MEET OUR GATOR-AIDES

New peer mentorship program elevates student leadership

By Joshua Neudel, Head of Upper School and Dona Rehm, Associate Director of College Counseling

Put yourself in the shoes of a 9th grade Brimmer student. Whether you are moving up from our Middle School or starting anew at Brimmer, entering high school is a time of transition. It is a time of new opportunities, growing independence, and self-discovery. While an exciting beginning, students still enter Upper School with questions, anxiety, and uncertainty about what comes next.

Over the past few years, Brimmer has worked to improve this key transition by reshaping familiar programs and creating new ones. Innovation Hour, a newly created requirement for all eighth graders, provides students with a formal introduction to the Makerspace and an opportunity to get to know the Head of Upper School, who teaches the course. Programs such as Curriculum Night, New Student Orientation, and Grades 9 and 10 Wellness have been revamped to better address the developmental challenges facing students and families in their first years of high school. While these programs have created a stronger sense of community, a better understanding of Upper School culture, and an earlier connection to advisors, we felt there was still an opportunity for improvement.

Now, consider the arc of a student’s development during their time in Upper School as they gain experience and develop an understanding of how to be successful in high school. As their independence and confidence grows, new opportunities come into their lives, and there is a natural progression into leadership roles within the School. Whether on an athletic team or in a theater performance, in clubs and activities, through the Tour Guide Ambassador program, or Peer Tutoring, Brimmer provides ways for students to hone their skills and grow into confident peer leaders. We recognized that while our students have many opportunities to lead in their later years of high school, they were missing key competencies and a firm understanding of foundational leadership skills. These skills were being taught in certain pockets of the Upper School, but there was no overarching curriculum to cultivate the skills necessary for impactful leadership. We found ourselves wondering, “What does it mean to be an effective leader, and what leadership skills are critical for high schoolers to develop?”

Incoming 9th graders meet their mentors during New Student Orientation in late summer before the start of classes. Orientation for the Class of 2025 this past fall included peer-led sessions, various introductions to resources and departments, and different ways for students and mentors to create meaningful connections with each other. Clad in their mint green shirts, GatorAide mentors provided a perspective to Orientation that could only be given by those who had lived through it before. This introductory event was a great kickoff for the mentoring meetings to come throughout the year.

THE GATOR-AIDES PROGRAM

Established in June 2021, this new peer mentorship program exists at the intersection of the Upper School by providing support to students in their early high school years while developing foundational leadership skills for Grades 11 and 12. Older students were given the opportunity to apply to be Gator-Aide mentors, and many noted how they would have appreciated a similar relationship when they were new to the Upper School. “I remember what is was like to be a 9th grader...it was nerve-wracking,” writes a current mentor. “This kind of a program would have made my transition to the Upper School a lot smoother.”

While the application process includes both written reflections and an interview, students who are selected to be Gator-Aides must complete a comprehensive training program before they begin to mentor students. This training focuses on helping students find the balance between being a friend and a leader. Using a combination of Brimmer’s Learning Management System, Canvas, printed materials, and in-person training sessions, Gator-Aides are taught how to be an effective mentor and coach; how to pick up verbal and nonverbal cues; and how to actively listen.

What does it mean to be an effective leader and what leadership skills are critical for high schoolers to develop?

They are also given tips on how to build trust with the students they are mentoring, including what information should be kept confidential and when to ask for help. We put a lot of trust in our Gator-Aide mentors, and they hold a big responsibility as they lead the Grade 9 cohort throughout the year.

Incoming 9th graders meet their mentors during New Student Orientation in late summer before the start of classes. Orientation for the Class of 2025 this past fall included peer-led sessions, various introductions to resources and departments, and different ways for students and mentors to create meaningful connections with each other. Clad in their mint green shirts, Gator- Aide mentors provided a perspective to Orientation that could only be given by those who had lived through it before. This introductory event was a great kickoff for the mentoring meetings to come throughout the year.

In addition to checking in with one another on an individual basis, our Gator-Aide pairs have been meeting during lunch every few weeks to discuss topics such as how to get involved in different aspects of school life and how to prepare for exams. With sweet treats and games built in, these lunch meetings aim to be both fun and educational. Typically, the meetings break the students into smaller groups to allow for conversations and questions. However, some meetings, like our full Gator- Aide panel to launch second semester, include the entire Grade 9 and all current mentors.

The Gator-Aides Program is still growing and evolving. We have added new students to our mentor cohort, and we continue to adapt the program based on student and faculty feedback. In these first few months alone, our 9th graders have reported feeling greatly supported. Equally important, our mentors have grown as creative thinkers, strong communicators, and dynamic leaders.

MULTILAYERED APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

The success of the Gator-Aides Program is in large part due to the leadership of our mentors. While the main discussion topics are planned in advance, our student leaders often have to think on their feet and pivot when needed. Due to their extensive training and the trust that we have instilled in them, we are able to rely on our mentors to problem-solve complex scenarios and ask for help when needed.

In addition to their training program, our mentors have been the first cohort of students to take part in our new Leadership Institute (see sidebar), where monthly workshop lunches serve a dual purpose. They provide opportunities to directly train Gator-Aide mentors, and they have allowed students to use their emerging competencies in other roles such as club leadership, Student Senate membership, and sports captainship. Each Leadership Institute topic brings in guest speakers from across Brimmer’s campus to share their expertise and the ways each lesson can be implemented across multiple areas. At the end of this year, our first cohort of Gator-Aides will have a Leadership Toolbox filled with the necessary knowledge to be active leaders beyond Brimmer.

The Gator-Aides Program is positioned to be a prototype for a larger student leadership curriculum. We see the Leadership Institute growing to provide the necessary skills for other students to take on leadership roles in the School through a new leadership certificate program. It is exciting to think about the positive impact that this would have on our community. Imagine if every student interested in taking on a leadership role at Brimmer first engaged with a dynamic curriculum – one that introduced important leadership concepts, offered tools to be adaptive leaders, and provided the structure to be successful in their role?

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Why invest so much time and energy into student leadership development? For one, it is an essential part of Brimmer’s Mission and Guiding Principles. To “develop lifelong learners who are informed, engaged, and ethical citizens and leaders,” we must invest time into teaching them how to be effective leaders and what successful leadership looks like. Like any other skill set, it needs to be scaffolded, developed, and honed over time.

Developing core leadership competencies throughout our Upper School community positively impacts what happens in the classroom and in cocurricular activities. A deeper understanding of conflict resolution and stronger communication skills make students better collaborators in group projects. Students learn how to be better problem-solvers and more adaptable as they encounter unexpected challenges, helping them be more resilient when they face adversity. Learning to listen to others and respond with empathy helps students learn how to disagree and engage in classroom conversations that do not lose sight of the person.

Leadership guru Ron Heifetz of the Harvard Kennedy School refers to teaching leadership as an experiment due to its adaptive nature. The rate of innovation and change in schools and the workforce has shown that for today’s high school students to be successful in the future, they must have the knowledge and skills to lead in a complex, rapidly changing, and ever-evolving professional landscape. The curriculum that we are developing in the Upper School focuses on just that, with skills that prepare students for the unknown by building a strong foundation that can withstand challenges and help them excel in the face of those challenges. ■