Now Jazmine is mentoring Lai’Aurii Brice, a feisty first-grader who was recently seen wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “It’s not all about me. Just mostly.” It is a fitting slogan for a little girl who doesn’t think twice about going after what she wants. The petite seven-year-old actually recruited Jazmine to be her mentor.
Here’s how that happened.
“I did not come into mentoring like most mentors do,” says Jazmine. After watching a training video during a parent/mentee introduction session at the Talbot Mentors headquarters, Jazmine and ‘Lai started playing together while ‘Lai’s mom spoke with Case Manager Javana Bowser. As ‘Lai and her mother were about to leave, the young girl looked Jazmine in the eye and said, “I know I am going to get to see you and play again because you are going to be my mentor.”
Jazmine wasn’t quite ready to sign up—and ‘Lai wasn’t quite ready to abandon her wish. “The next time I saw her,” says Jazmine, “she was here for an after-school cooking session. As soon as she saw me walk in, she said, ‘Look everyone, it’s my mentor.’ She ran over to me and gave me a hug.”
And so the match was made—early in January 2017. Most mentor/mentee pairs meet once a week. ‘Lai and Jazmine have been getting together two or three times a week—going to Pet Smart to see the animals, playing with the kittens at Talbot Humane, looking at art at the Academy Art Museum (followed by some frozen yogurt), walking around Target, and hanging out at the Mentors office after school on Wednesdays.
As a well-seasoned mentee and a Talbot Mentors staffer, Jazmine has a great grounding for being a mentor. From her various vantage points, she knows that the crux of good mentoring is individual attention. “To have someone carve out time for you means the world,” she says. “Miss Merrillee showed me that. In the time we have spent together, a world of opportunities to see the world in constructive ways has opened up for me. We went places, and she shared stories about her life. I saw, I listened, and I learned. She gave me so much.”
Now in the Mentor’s Seat, Jazmine is determined to provide the same sort of experience for ‘Lai.
Jazmine’s tool box also is enriched by her work at Talbot Mentors. She redeveloped the mentor training program to have it coincide with National Mentoring Association guidelines. She plays a key role in training new mentors, working with other staffers and Lenny Gold, who has been a Talbot Mentor for two decades. To now be a mentor herself is “almost surreal,” she says. “It’s one thing to be on staff at Talbot Mentors and another thing to actually be a mentor.”
And so she now is in the same shoes as those she trains. “I’m one of them, looking for ways to become a better mentor and choosing fun activities for my mentee. The Talbot Mentors organization helps mentors find their way when it comes to things to do with kids. The first time the two of them got together as “mentor and mentee,” Jazmine and ‘Lai pored over the Talbot Mentors “Idea a Week” list and checked off more than two dozen “must-do” activities, including walking the trails at Pickering Creek, sitting down for a soda at Hill’s, taking photographs, going fishing, and heading out for a swim at the Easton or St. Michaels community pool.
‘No matter what we do together, being with ‘Lai always reminds me of what it’s like to be little,” Jazmine says. “The enthusiasm—though she is far more outgoing than I ever was—the stubbornness, how great it is to have fun, and how good it feels to have someone pay attention to you.”
It’s not uncommon for a mentor—even one with only a couple of mentoring months under her belt—to think way down the line. Jazmine’s hopes for ‘Lai? “That’s a big question,” she says and then offers a sincere, uncomplicated answer. “She should be happy.”
For more information, to make a contribution, or to volunteer as a mentor, call Talbot Mentors at 410-770-5999 or visit www.talbotmentors.org.
By Sheila F. Buckmaster
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.