January was National Mentoring Month and Custer County High school has a busy and ongoing mentoring program to help students find direction with the help of community volunteers.

Start-up money for the program came from a grant from the Wet Mountain Valley Community Foundation. Carol Franta is in charge of the program with help from gifted and talented teacher Sam Frostman. The program is not just for gifted and talented students; they try to pair up the right volunteer for the right student based on their interests.

Steve Gunnels is a mentor who is a consulting mechanical engineer. He designs large optical telescopes and is currently working with Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif. on the giant Magellan telescope that will be used for scientific research to understand the universe better. He became interested in engineering in high school and took all the drafting classes available to him in high school. When he saw there were no drafting classes available at the school here, he wanted to share his knowledge in the mentoring program.

Braden Wilson started the 12-month program his sophomore year. He is now a junior and is interested in design. He said Gunnels gave him a more in-depth look at engineering and what kinds of things are available in that field. The program is also helping him search for and choose a college to attend. Wilson is looking at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He said military schools offer full ride scholarships.

Kevin Clippinger is also a junior and started the program last year. He said he knew nothing prior to this program. His brother, Kyle, was starting college at CSU in Fort Collins in engineering, and he is thinking of applying to that same school. “I like coming up with ideas and making things and figuring out how things work.” He meets with Gunnels after school. Wilson and Clippinger both enjoy math and science and like designing things.

Linnea Laurila is a chemical engineer. She said she had little direction in school. She took a summer program at Michigan Technological University while in high school. “I had very good math teachers,” said Laurila. It made a big difference for her, so she wanted to help out with the mentoring program here. Laurila started out working for General Foods on things like Cheetos and other Frito Lay products. Now she works with pharmaceuticals.

Karen O’Brien is a sophomore in the mentoring program this year. At first she thought she was interested in engineering, but with guidance and discussion with Laurila, she thinks she might enjoy architecture. Laurila and O’Brien are exploring those avenues now. They meet during summer and on weekends. O’Brien said the program has given her direction and that she has always liked school and wanted more out of it.

Kaitlin Hedburg is a senior now and was in the mentoring program last year. “I didn’t know what engineering involved. I met with Linnea and got really excited,” she said. Hedburg has been accepted at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

There are seven community members currently helping out with the mentoring program at the school. They meet with students once a month. National Mentoring Month was spearheaded in 2002 by the Harvard Mentoring Project to assure brighter futures for young people.

For more information, please call Carol Franta at 783-4916.

– Jacque Keller