Kids need a positive role model to help them blossom as the get older. For a lot of them, that comes in the form of a parent or other relative. There are a lot of kids that can’t rely on their family though, and that’s where Mentor North comes in.

They pair up mentees with mentors that have shared interests, hobbies, and personalities. One of these matches is Joe and Amanda. Joe was a former student of Amanda’s, and in 2018, Amanda and her husband began co-mentoring Joe. They would go out and do activities together like attending sporting events, going to the roller rink, or even just playing video games. Over time, they developed a familial bond that continues today.

“It ended up being this amazing bond between Joe, my husband, and myself just all connecting, finding fun things to do together,” said Amanda.

“Watching him go from the eighth grader who he even said he was struggling. I mean, he was not passing most of his classes. To see him go from that person to the confident person that he is today, knowing that he can succeed and that his history doesn’t define his future, it’s not destiny, he gets to choose; I’m just so proud of him and I’m so proud of the young man that he has become,” said Amanda.

7 years later, Joe is now a graduate of Lake Superior College and works at Cirrus in Duluth building airplanes. Even as an adult, he still has a strong bond with the Lundquist family.

“Every year he asks me what I want for my birthday, what I want for Christmas, and he buys presents and I tell him all the time, I don’t need anything. He will go out and he will think about what I might like, and he will pick something out for me, and he’ll bring it over and then he’ll be very apprehensive about whether or not I like it. It’s just like he really is part of the family,” said Amanda.

For other mentors like Samantha, being able to see her mentee grow from 7th grade to 12th has been invaluable.

“I mean, I couldn’t be prouder of her, and I feel honored to have even been allowed to be a small part of that growth. I have so much more empathy and realistic view of what a world that isn’t mine looks like. And that makes me a wiser person. It makes me kinder and more empathetic, and it makes me a more activated person. It makes me a person who steps up and says something in our community, because I get to see what it really looks like in somebody else’s life, too,” said Samantha.

Mentor North still has nearly 60 kids that are waiting for a mentor, so if you want to nominate yourself or someone you think would be a great mentor, a link to the form can be found here.