Consider being a TeamMate

With the school year entering its second month, a prominent program within the middle school and high school prepares to enter its new year welcoming back mentors and mentees as well as greeting newcomers.
TeamMates Mentoring Program was founded in 1991 by University of Nebraska-Lincoln head football coach Tom Osborne and his wife Nancy. Osborne’s idea was for his players to continue leaving an impact beyond the football field, with 22 of his players becoming the first mentor for students in Lincoln Public Schools. 
When building a connection between a mentor and their mentee, the overall goal was to support them as they go through middle school up until they graduate from high school.
Since then, the program has developed chapters all over the Midwest helping students in junior and senior high school, including Aurora.
Aurora’s TeamMates don’t shy away from helping students who are in need of support and an ear to listen to them talk through any challenge that may come their way.
Karol Nachtigal, who works as coordinator for Aurora’s chapter, has been seeking out new mentors for students who are now entering the program.
“We start in sixth grade and the goal is to go all the way through their high school graduation and establish that trusting relationship outside of their home life by having somebody that can walk through life with them through the ups and downs,” she explained.
Nachtigal noted that TeamMates is always looking for people within the local community to pair with a student who needs to have that connection as they progress through school.
Some of those within the community who have taken on the role of mentor within the program include Opal Christensen and Harlan Schafer.
It was through recommendations from colleagues that both discovered the program’s mission to help students who are in need of guidance.
Chirstensen has been a mentor for six years, having connected with two students within the program. Recently, her first mentee graduated from high school and despite no longer attending school in Aurora, Christensen still keeps in touch.
“Although we have now gone into ‘We’re done with the mentee,’ we still get together every once in a while,” she said. “We’ve maintained that correspondence a little bit through Facebook and we meet occasionally at Runza just to catch up to see how each other is doing. Even though he’s graduated, we’re still keeping up my mentee.”
Schafer is beginning his second year with his mentee.
“I met my first mentee at the start of school last year and I just so enjoy watching and hearing about the things he’s doing,” Schafer stated. “I’m excited for tomorrow. I get to meet with him again for the first time this year and I’m excited to hear about how summer went and all the things that he did.”
During the school year, mentors will meet with their mentees once a week, where they spend half an hour catching up with each other and bonding through games or walks at school. Mentors and mentees also often meet up and connect beyond school walls.
“In the fall, we have a kickoff and last year we started using the youth center, which has been wonderful,” Nachtigal commented. “It’s just a great facility for the mentors and mentees to gather outside of  the school walls and play games.”
On occasion, mentees and mentors spend time together and enjoy a meal at Runza or even go as far as going to a Tri-City Storm hockey game, which the program has offered for both mentors and mentees in previous years.
Both Christensen and Schafer expressed the same ideals when it came to helping their mentee thrive and succeed.
“The most important thing when you start with a mentee is to build up that trusting relationship with them, because they’ve got to feel comfortable enough,” Christensen said. “That just takes a little bit of time sometimes to build up that trusting relationship so that you can then work together and enjoy your time together with them.”
Schafer expressed a similar belief about being there for his mentee.
“I think as mentors, really the message we’re sending is that it’s not just their parents that care about what’s happening within the community, they care about their successes,” Schafer explained. “The community’s paying attention to what they do through their involvement in sports and their academics and their extracurriculars. I think our biggest responsibility is just to be an extension of the community. That helps develop a sense  of accountability for the    youth to the community just to say people are paying attention.”
Nachtigal stated that anyone interested in becoming a mentor for TeamMates should contact her through email or by phone, followed by meeting her in the front office to collect paperwork and be given instructions on how to fill out the application online.
So far there have been 40 matches for TeamMates, 20 matches each for the middle school and high school. Nachtigal noted that the chapter’s goal is to reach 50 matches for Aurora students. 
Nachtigal can be reached  by email: knachtigal@4rhuskies.org, or phone (402)-694-6968.