2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
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Our STATE of EDUCATION<br />
teract with students, and an already-existing<br />
relationship between the district and local<br />
government can help seniors land internships<br />
that could springboard them into government<br />
careers and other relevant professions.<br />
—Gary Phillips<br />
CUMBERLAND STUDENTS<br />
MENTOR EACH OTHER<br />
Ten years ago, parents of freshmen<br />
at Cumberland Regional High School<br />
were concerned when their children<br />
were chosen to participate in the inaugural<br />
senior mentorship program. They didn't want<br />
their kids, who were struggling academically, to<br />
be singled out, recalls Terence Johnson, assistant<br />
principal of the school.<br />
But now, he says, parents—and students—are<br />
fighting over the few dozen spots.<br />
“Through a rigorous selection process, Johnson<br />
collaborates with guidance counselors<br />
and teachers from the seven districts that<br />
comprise the regional high school’s student<br />
body to flag incoming freshmen who would<br />
be a good fit. Those students are then coupled<br />
with a compatible senior whose “sole responsibility<br />
is to help them in their transition<br />
into high school, socially, intellectually and<br />
emotionally,” Johnson says.<br />
“A lot of things that freshmen wouldn’t<br />
communicate or share with their parents,<br />
from a day-to-day perspective, they have a<br />
big brother or sister as a senior mentor that<br />
they will share with,” Johnson says.<br />
The program includes a class that meets<br />
daily for one semester, plus outside activities.<br />
For the first month, the class features bonding<br />
activities, so that the program’s selection committee<br />
can best pair up the freshmen and seniors.<br />
Each senior is then assigned two or three<br />
freshmen, with about 100 freshmen total in the<br />
program at a time. “We don’t just immediately<br />
assign kids to a mentor, because it’s all about<br />
who is best for who,” Johnson says.<br />
The remainder of the semester is spent on<br />
a curriculum based on Joseph M. Hoedel’s<br />
textbook, Role Models: Examples of Character<br />
and Leadership, which teaches the value of<br />
qualities such as preparation, perseverance,<br />
respect, honesty and courage. The program<br />
has improved students’ self-awareness, selfmanagement,<br />
social awareness, relational and<br />
decision-making skills, says Matt Lawrence-<br />
Evans, the high school’s wellness counselor.<br />
The program is project heavy. One interesting<br />
project involves the freshmen writing<br />
letters—to their role models, which they read<br />
aloud at a ceremony. —Falyn Stempler<br />
EDUCATING STUDENTS IN<br />
CHALLENGING TIMES<br />
Teacher shortages, safety and mental health are on the<br />
agenda for Angelica Allen-McMillan this school year.<br />
[ ]<br />
&<br />
A<br />
by jacqueline mroz<br />
ACTING EDUCATION COMMISSIONER ANGELICA<br />
Allen-McMillan welcomes the opportunity to increase<br />
educational equity for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong>’s 1.4 million students.<br />
She faces multiple challenges as the state’s commissioner,<br />
including educating students during a pandemic, keeping<br />
children and educators safe, teacher shortages, mentalhealth<br />
issues and aging school buildings.<br />
Allen-McMillan has spent 25 years in public education.<br />
A Cedar Grove resident and a parent of three, she has been a teacher, served on a school<br />
board, launched a charter school, served as a principal and an assistant superintendent,<br />
and was interim executive county superintendent for Morris County. Her permanent<br />
appointment awaits state Senate confirmation.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF JAMAR CHAMPION, SPECIAL ASSISTANT<br />
TO THE COMMISSIONER<br />
66 SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NJMONTHLY.COM