Excel Mentoring boosts confidence, stems drop-outs in Montana schools

When Collette Spangler’s teachers recommended that she have an adult mentor last year, she didn’t feel like her teenage rights were being infringed upon.

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Spangler, who is now 15 and a sophomore at Great Falls High School, said that when she was an eighth-grade student she was introduced to a mentoring program that connected her with a high school student. She added she had a lot of fun in that program.

So when her teachers recommended she try the Excel Mentoring program as a freshman in high school, she didn’t hesitate.

"I was actually excited," she said. "I like having a mentor."

The Great Falls Public Schools Excel Mentoring program has been in place for five years, thanks to a Smaller Learning Communities Grant the high school received to set up the adult-to-student program.

By KRISTEN CATES • Tribune Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20091026/NEWS01/910260307/1002/Excel-Mentoring-boosts-confidence–stems-drop-outs