WARRENSBURG — The rambunctious and thoughtful third-graders had life on pause Wednesday, with the fast-paced world slowing down while they made puppets with their mentors.
The state Mentoring Program has established its first local branch in the Warrensburg school system. The program started in the fall, and the beginning-to-end changes in the students were remarkable to the mentors.
The mentors come weekly during the school day and take part in special activities with the students. This year, the program was limited to third grade.
Mentor Ben Thomas was working Wednesday with an energetic student on creating a box-based puppet.
“I think just being here is appreciated,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if you saw, when I walked in, he came over and gave me a hug. It was the first time that happened, but it was kind of exciting. … They all seem to really love it and the mentors, too. We are all having a lot of fun.”
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Susan Murante, a member of the New York Advisory Council for the mentoring program, began her work as a puppeteer in the 1990s. She joined the mentoring program under then-Governor Mario Cuomo. When the program was brought back by Governor Andrew Cuomo, its chairwoman — Matilda Cuomo — invited Murante to return.
She helped coordinate the puppet event Wednesday and had small cardboard boxes cut in half with glue and accessories lined up on a table. The students came in, ate lunch, then began making puppets.
“I’ve had kids say, ‘I still have my puppets.’ … I love it,” she said. “I think it’s the neatest thing. Look at these kids, they are really into it.”
Adding the program has been in the works for around a year, elementary school Principal Amy Langworthy said.
“We decided to give it a go this year,” she said. “We targeted our third-grade population, so that many of the mentors will return and be able to stay with the students for, you know, a couple of years. So some of the students, if they’re willing and the mentor is willing, will continue that mentor relationship for a couple of years.”
Mentors and students may play board games or outdoor games and undertake craft projects. Langworthy sees it as a cost-effective program for the district that can benefit students by providing them with role models.
“Small schools sometimes don’t have the capacity or the staffing to do some programming different than larger schools,” Langworthy said. “I think any time a kid can have a positive connection in their life, it does them a world of good because many of them don’t have a lot of positive role models, perhaps, outside of school.”
Another mentor, Anton Cooper, was also helping students with puppet-making. During the year, the mentoring program was the catalyst for students’ growing smiles, he said.
“Without a doubt, several kids have come in and act a certain way when they first get here,” Cooper said. “Then all of a sudden, they switch around; they are much more talkative and much more happier — they seem to be.”