JEFFERSON TWP — A new student mentoring program at the South Butler School District has taken off in its second year.

The program began last year, after Tyler Vargo, the high school’s assistant principal, hatched the idea for student-to-student mentoring, and he was quickly joined by Erin Yeager, a high school counselor.

The program is designed to help students from Knoch Middle School, which houses sixth to eighth grade, with the transition to the high school, both academically and socially.

The mentor program allows juniors and seniors to be mentors to students in seventh to ninth grades. This usually means that students will have lunch or go to school events together, Yeager said.

The older students are nominated by teachers or staff members while the mentees are staff- or parent-nominated, Yeager said.

This year, the program has 160 students involved, on both the mentor and the mentee side with almost each mentee having two mentors, Yeager said.

Before the matches were revealed during an assembly on Thursday morning, Yeager took her time matching the students in the best way she saw fit.

The students participated in a “speed dating” exercise which allowed each mentor and mentee to meet with each other and then rank their preferences afterward.

In addition to that activity, every student filled out a form on their interests, which could also be used to match mentors and mentees.

“If we couldn’t match them based off the speed dating, we tried to use the interest inventory,” Yeager said. “Everything is based off, hopefully, a common interest.”

This year, the program has grown due to more interest and word-of-mouth and nearly every mentor who has yet to graduate returned to the program this year, Yeager said.

There is also the hope that many of the students who are mentees now will eventually become the mentors at the high school, according to middle school counselor Jeff Woller.

Because of the huge transition between the middle and high schools, the mentoring program can ease some of the growing pains, Woller said.

“The number one stress for kids is getting more comfortable in a new social setting,” he said on the transition from middle to high school. “The (students) who participated last year said it was nice to see a familiar face (when they went to the high school).”

The parents also see the opportunity as a positive program that can open up students with a lot of potential, he said.

One of the biggest strengths of the program is the fact that it connects students with each other, rather than having yet another adult give the mentees advice, Vargo said, calling it a “more organic” connection.

The program suggests that students meet twice a month face-to-face and have some form of contact, be it in-person or through social media, at least once a week, Vargo said.

“We understand that it’s not a silver bullet, fix-all,” Vargo said, but he is optimistic that the program helps students who might be anxious about the transition feel more at ease.

Kristina Pagonis, a ninth grader, liked the program so much that she requested to be matched again. While the program only accepted seventh and eighth graders last year, it has grown to welcome those ninth graders who wish to maintain that support system, Yeager said.

Pagonis is matched with the same student as last year, senior Vanessa McRandal. Lauren McCrea is also matched with Pagonis.

“They really helped me figure out what the high school was going to be like,” Pagonis said of McRandal and her second match from last year, who has since graduated.

Pagonis said she hopes to become a mentor herself one day.

For McRandal, the program has allowed her to grow as an individual while still being able to help the younger students, she said.

“It encourages me to become more confident in myself,” she said, explaining that she feels more empowered and independent because of her time as a mentor.