By MIKE RUSSO
The School to Career Program, now in its 14th year, matches students with professionals in a field of their interest through internships and mentoring programs with local businesses, organizations, non profits and more. Students have “shadowed” doctors, lawyers, engineers and countless other occupations in locally, nationally, sometimes even internationally renowned companies.
Pat Banhazl, a Baldwin High School business teacher, and Jean Lahage Cohen, a member of the Mentoring Partnership of Long Island, have just marked their 15th straight year of working together on the School-to-Career Program.
“Mentoring is dear to my heart,” said Banhazl, adding that the high school now has over 100 mentors. “It is our goal to create unique opportunities for all students district-wide and help them develop a business work ethic to bring back to the school.”
The school’s mentoring program reaches out to local community business people to serve as mentors for the students, focusing on those who are having difficulty in certain areas of their lives, whether it be education-related or personal. Professionals from different fields come down to the school to offer students everything from job-related advice to small-talk. Many such mentors take time off from work or use their lunch break to come and meet with a student who needs additional guidance. To date, the school has set up mentoring relationships for over 13,000 students.
Cohen spoke about some of the students that have been mentored through learning disabilities, pregnancy, and even probation. According to Cohen, in over 10 years, not one Baldwin High School student who entered a mentoring program while on probation was ever arrested again — and all have graduated.
“From a kid who might have been destined down a certain road in life, you are able to bring them back,” said Cohen. “You’re raising their confidence; you’re raising character — that’s what makes you successful.”
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
