Hopefully, the mentor will go beyond that and give guidance and direction to the young person and keep him on track toward his career goals and his whole aspect of living. We've tried to instill a lot of community volunteerism into the kids. The mentor is an extension of that. Mentors and their cadets sign a contract at the beginning of the post-residency phase. The contract lays out such things as the cadet's goals, how the mentor will assist the cadet in reaching those goals and how often they will meet.
Mentors report to the academy on the cadet's progress and current situation.
The mentoring program helps the academy track the cadets after they leave. The rest are struggling. And we'll work with them as long as they want us to help them. As long as they show the initiative to come back to us and say they need help, we'll keep working with them. THE three-year National Guard Youth Challenge pilot program began in September 1993.