Mentor Program Lets Students See Past City Limits

Jenny McClintock, 17, and Carlos Hereida, 6, sat down for a reading lesson Friday at Pio Pico Elementary School in Santa Ana.

But it wasn’t Carlos, a first-grader, who was learning to read.

“They’re teaching me,” said McClintock, a high school senior. “I am learning Spanish here.”

McClintock and 20 of her classmates from Fountain Valley High School’s leadership class traveled to Pio Pico to deliver Christmas presents to children as part of an emerging mentor program between the two schools.

Mentor programs that cross school district lines are unusual in Orange County, district officials said. Other programs join students from different areas for Disneyland trips and similar outings, but Friday’s exchange was aimed at creating lasting relationships.

The students plan to write letters, meet periodically and possibly take a field trip together after winter break. The Fountain Valley students spent their own money, from allowance and after-school jobs, to buy gifts for the youngsters.

In return, the first-graders provided each of their new buddies with calendars made in class, a traditional Mexican meal and Christmas carols.

“It’s the best gift I have ever gotten to give,” said McClintock. “It has taught me to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas and what I have.”

Many of the high schoolers who live in well-to-do sections of Fountain Valley described the trip to the struggling Santa Ana neighborhood as eye-opening.

“Just being in the area is really different than where we live,” said Sara Leimbach, 17. “I am learning that I should have taken Spanish.”

One Fountain Valley student, Amber Bodnar,(CQ) 17, lives in Santa Ana and commutes to school. She said the Santa Ana children need good role models.

Josephine Kavert, vice principal of activities at Fountain Valley, and Hector Chavez, who teaches the first-grade class at Pio Pico, developed the partnership.

“I think they need to see cultures and an opportunity to see different types of schools,” Kavert said.

The elementary school children appreciated the visit from their older friends. Diego Martinez, 7, gripping a Nerf gun that shoots foam darts, said he liked the teens “because they’re cool.”