Glenwood Mentoring Program Named TeamMates Chapter Of The Year

The Glenwood Community School District’s TeamMates mentoring program has been recognized with a prestigious honor.

Earlier this month, Glenwood was named the TeamMates Mentoring Chapter of the Year. The award was presented during the TeamMates Mentoring Annual Conference in Lincoln, Neb.

“It speaks volumes about our mentors, our kids and our community,” Glenwood TeamMates  coordinator Sandra Dollen said of the recognition.

Glenwood’s TeamMates mentoring program was established five years ago and has experienced continued growth despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was rolled out for third and sixth graders in 2019 and now has over 100 mentor-mentee matches in grades 3-12.

Dollen said it’s the quality of the matches, not the quantity, that makes Glenwood’s program special. She noted that most of the students who joined the program in 2019 are still being mentored. They’ll be eighth and 11th graders when the new school year starts in August.

“That tells me a lot because our program is all about relationship building and letting the students know what their strengths and talents are,” she said. “That tells me that it’s really working.”

Glenwood was chosen for the award from nearly 200 TeamMates chapters. TeamMates programs exist in five states – Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming.

TeamMates Regional Manager Ashley Denton said she’s spent a lot of time in Glenwood since the program was started and is excited for the chapter to receive the recognition. Denton said the chapter has thrived, particularly in the last two years, because of a strong commitment from the school district and the support of the Glenwood community.

“The community of Glenwood has gone above and beyond to support their students,” Denton said. “That’s one thing that we really took into consideration. When you have a TeamMates chapter in a community, it is a community-wide effort. We’ve noticed that (in Glenwood). The school district working so closely in conjunction with the community has really been fun to see.”

Denton said the support the program receives from the school district’s administrative team has been vital to the program’s success. She praised former GCSD Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray and Assistant Superintendent Of School Improvement and Human Resources  Chad Lang and Dollen for their support and leadership.

“Sandra, as a leader, has truly been phenomenal,” she said. “Her energy, her passion. She just has a way of connecting the school and the community.”

TeamMates, founded in 1991 by former University of Nebraska football coach Dr. Tom Osborne and his wife Nancy, is a nationally-recognized “one-to-one, relationship-based” mentoring program.

In Glenwood, the program is strictly school-based. The mentors spend about 30 minutes a week with their mentee during normal school hours – conversing with one another and sometimes taking part in an activity, such as playing cards or a board game or going for a walk.

Dollen said one mentor and mentee built a model car during their time together during the last school year.

Participants in the program also take part in some group activities during the school year, including a pizza party and an outing at a high school basketball game.

Adults interested in becoming a TeamMates mentor in Glenwood can contact Dollen at 712-527-4887 or via e-mail at dollens@glenwoodschools.org.  or visit the TeamMates website at www.teammates.org. Dollen said at this time the program has 12-15 students “waiting” for a mentor.

TeamMates guidelines require mentors to receive mandatory training after passing a criminal background check. The mentors are then matched with a mentee of similar interests.