VCU news

By Mike Porter

Barbara Payton has always believed in the importance of giving back to the community and has always managed to make serving others a part of her busy life.

In recent years, she has helped an 83-year-old woman who is blind. And when an opportunity opened up last fall for her to serve as a mentor for a middle school student in a program called AMP! Metro Richmond, she couldn’t resist.

“I was feeling a little guilty for not devoting time to young people. AMP! offered me the perfect amount of time and the perfect age group,” said Payton, who is executive director of the MCV Alumni Association of VCU.

AMP! was created as a team project in the 2005-2006 class of Leadership Metro Richmond. After the project ended, two members of the team redesigned the program and created it as the nonprofit organization still operating today. 

The program pairs 45 mentors with students at Chandler Middle School in Richmond’s North Side. Over the course of a semester, mentors meet with their students for an hour during weekly lunchtime sessions meant to stimulate learning, build self-confidence and encourage career discovery in the students.

“A lot of the professionals who volunteer with the program say this is a very attractive commitment. It’s manageable, takes place during the day and doesn’t take time away from their families,” said Susan Gunn, president of AMP! Metro Richmond.

Every Friday, Payton leaves her office in the MCV Alumni House and travels to the school to share time and lunch with seventh grade student Takema Batson. 

“She has taught me some new board games, and she has taught me how to laugh at nothing at all,” Payton said.

Graduate students in the VCU School of Education's Counselor Education Program are also learning about the importance of mentoring. Some are mentoring children at St. Andrews School in Oregon Hill, an independent school for children of limited resources. Others are working with seniors at Richmond Community High School, an alternative public high school in the city’s West End.

At St. Andrews, mentors help students with reading and homework and help them to appreciate the importance of discipline. There is also time for socializing and playing game.

At Richmond Community High School, mentors help seniors with selecting colleges, completing applications, searching for financial aid and writing their college essays.

The Counselor Education Program mentor relationship began with the two schools last fall with participation from 26 VCU graduate students, including Richmond native Darnell Erby. 

“When I go to St. Andrews, I try to teach the students about choosing careers and focusing on academic and social skills. I want to help them be well-balanced,” Erby said. “A lot of times, they have people come in and out of their lives. They learned our class is going to be there for them.”

Erby is mentoring a third grader and a fourth grader at the school. 

“It’s mutually beneficial for the mentors and their mentees. Counselor education students appreciate this opportunity to form positive relationships with children in schools and are able to provide needed service to Richmond youth,” said Donna Dockery, Ph.D., assistant professor of counselor education in VCU’s School of Education. 

Mentors make a huge difference in the lives of children across Virginia and the nation and VCU’s Virginia Mentoring Partnership will recognize that contribution during a special forum and awards ceremony on Feb. 12.

The Virginia Mentoring Partnership is coordinated through the Division of Community Engagement. To learn more about mentoring training sessions, call the Virginia Mentoring Partnership at 804-828-1536 or visit www.mentoring.org/virginia.