Mentoring program visits Zoo

Jennifer Maupin, Claremore Daily Progress, Okla.
·2 min read

May 19—Every Wednesday morning for at least six months, Kristal and Tim McHugh met with their mentees in the Rogers County Youth Services UTurn mentoring program.

As the school year came to a close, Kristal said they realized that would be the end of their weekly mentoring sessions with young people they had bonded with. They wanted to do something special for the six kids in the program and decided to spend Wednesday going to the Tulsa Zoo and filling up on pizza.

"We found out that it was the last day of school so we just wanted to have the opportunity to take that entire program out to do something fun," she said.

First United Methodist Church Love Our Neighbor Ministries and Volunteers for Youth members spent the day celebrating these students for making it through the school year.

The UTurn Academy is a positive alternative for students with long-term suspensions, according to the RCYS website. Students in the program stay on track with their graduating class and receive counseling, life skills groups, a mentor and tutoring.

"Often times those kids can be considered a challenge because they have gone through some obstacles in life," Kristal said. "But when we are with them we see just how amazing they are and their great potential."

Kristal is a Minister of Evangelism and Outreach and Tim is an associate pastor at FUMC. Kristal said she gives back to these children because her life was changed by the mentors she was able to have.

"We enjoyed it," she said. "You can't ever mentor somebody without your life as well being changed."

Kristal said she and Tim hope to be mentors for as long as she can. FUMC looks forward to their continued partnership with RCYS.

"That will probably be one of my most favorite visits was going to the zoo with them," she said.

While the mentoring programs are only available during the school year, RCYS and Volunteers for Youth are already working to recruit mentors for next school year. Information for interested mentors can be found at www.rcys.org and www.volunteersforyouth.com.