H.E.L.P Mentorship Program Gains Attention at Dalton High

DALTON, Ga. (WDEF)- H.E.L.P which stands for Hispanic Educational Leadership Program and it is a new mentorship program at Dalton High School that is starting to gain more and more attention.

“These are great people and like I’m telling you this is great… a great experience,” said one student who is apart of the program.

Jeffrey Hutchinson stated, “We have a 75 percent hispanic population here and in the classrooms I’ve been in. I saw a lot of kids that would not doing anywhere near their potential in fact many of them were failing and it was just eating at me.”

So that in turn is where the HELP program started.

One teacher wanted to make a difference in the lives of the students he was instructing, but he needed some help.

Ramon Pena said, ” A lot of times the parents they’re 1st generation families in the United States, they don’t know the culture they don’t know the language and it’s had for them to get involved in their children’s education and their school life.”

Mr. Pena and Mr. Hutchinson co-founded the mentorship program and although it has only been going for a few weeks they both say they are starting to see real bonds grow and excited to see each teen relating to their mentor and sharing their own story.

Juan Prado, a student at Dalton High said, “It teaches you to be more motivational. It teaches you about integrity and like leadership.”

” For her I can like if I can show her I can trust her because like she is there for me and I know as a mentor it’s her job to help others students to open up,” said another student.

Bradley Ramirez, a mentor and marine said, ” I never really had this growing up as a.. you know being their age. I was like Eduardo, you know a little bit of anger issues. People are like quick to punish you but you know I never really had somebody talk to me.”

In return Eduardo Vastida said,  ” I been making better decisions, he’s telling me to not to get the anger get the best of me, so I don’t get mad cuz I got mad a couple days ago and I shouldn’t have. It really messed up something for me.”

Jacqueline Ledezma another student in the program said, ” I joined this because my grades and I’m hoping that I might set a goal so I can have a future a better future for also my family.”

” I just hope to see more kids here, I hope to see, I hope that people see this and just wanna say man so many people poured into me I want to pour into these kids so I’d like to see more great mentors,” said Christian Kozma who is a college student and mentor at the program as well.

If you wish to become a mentor and apart of the program you can simply get in contact with Mr. Hutchinson at Dalton High School.

A background check is required for the safety of the kids.