Former Rondout Valley High School Social Studies teacher and Co-Coordinator of WISE

WISE Program Consultant Andy Lutz

WISE Program Consultant Andy Lutz has mentored a total of 17 students since 1999. To Andy, a mentor is a “guide on the side” with certain expectations. “I became a mentor because a student with whom I had a great relationship asked me. WISE students ask mentors, mentors are not assigned to students.”

Most memorable and proud moments include:

• Julie Pezzino sharing her feelings that she got while interviewing one of the “greatest generation” for an article on Memorial Day in 1999. Afterward there was not a “dry eye in the place”.
• Cody Taylor’s a cappella singing group asked me to sing with them during their concert.
• A phone call from Dylan Birdsall after his graduation from Champlain College where he said that he had been hired by a snowboard manufacturer as a marketing executive. Dylan’s WISE project: Snow Boarding.

The most difficult part of being a mentor:

The challenge is to remember that it is not the mentor’s project. As you learn along with the student the tendency is to find materials for them.

Mentoring is a two-way street. I’ve learned a great deal from students:

Quark software; HTML and archiving for webpage design; music arrangement in a capella singing; Native American history; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and more.

Some of the traits and characteristics that make a great mentor:

When to kick a person in the butt or whether it is better to give them a hug. Great mentors are great listeners and know when to make gentle suggestions. They allow students to fail temporarily prior to helping them to find new directions. Great mentors collaborate with mentees when students sponsor activities for fund raising or community activities.

Advice to current or future mentors:

Listen, and then listen again. Then suggest several alternatives. The students have to make the decisions. Allow them to fail, and, if they do, help them to pick up the pieces. Encourage them to make lists, reflect about themselves and their feelings, and identify immediate and long-term goals.