Hickory Ridge's Mentorship Program, From Kindergarten to High School

This article was written by Jen Carlson, School Counselor at Hickory Ridge Elementary in Cabarrus County Schools in North Carolina. Jen is part of a counseling team that supports students academically and personally across the building. Hickory Ridge is in its second year of a mentoring program aligned with The Positivity Project (P2), connecting elementary students with peer mentors and with high school students from a neighboring campus.

Building character takes practice, and at Hickory Ridge Elementary we have found a strong partner in The Positivity Project (P2). P2 is a curriculum and a philosophy that runs through our school community, and it supports a culture of understanding, kindness, and personal growth.

P2 helps students recognize their strengths and connect with others. Its effectiveness lies in the practical application of positive psychology, which makes complex concepts accessible for students of all ages, inside our classrooms and beyond them. Through engaging activities, P2 helps students build resilience through teacher lessons and everyday application. The part of our implementation that has surprised us most is our multi-tiered mentorship program, which spans from our elementary hallways to the high school campus.

The Power of Peer Mentorship: 4th and 5th Graders Leading the Way

Imagine a bustling elementary school hallway. A kindergartner, perhaps feeling a little overwhelmed by a new challenge, looks up to see a smiling 4th or 5th grader approaching. That is a deliberate, structured mentorship interaction. Our 4th and 5th grade students are carefully selected and trained to become P2 Mentors for our younger learners.

These student leaders spend time with their buddy, facilitating P2 activities and leading discussions. They guide younger children through exercises designed to:

• Practice gratitude, learning to see the good in small, everyday moments.
• Understand influence, recognizing how their words and actions carry through their classroom community.

For the younger students, having an older peer as a mentor makes P2 concepts relatable. They see someone they admire displaying these values, which makes kindness tangible and desirable. For the mentors, the experience changes them. To teach students to consider other people, they must first practice it themselves. That responsibility builds their self-esteem and their own self-awareness as they learn to work through hard moments while supporting a mentee.

Bridging the Gap: High School Mentors and the 24 Character Strengths

Our commitment to character development does not stop at the elementary level. We are proud to bring in our high school students, creating a vertical alignment of mentorship. It is where our Cowboys meet the Bulls. High school mentors bring a more developed understanding of how people relate to one another.

A core component of the high school mentorship program is the direct development of the 24 character strengths. These strengths, ranging from bravery and perseverance to integrity and teamwork, are the building blocks of the P2 philosophy. High schoolers work with students to help them pinpoint their unique top strengths. By identifying that a child possesses the strength of curiosity or kindness, mentors help them develop those strengths in academic and social settings.

This mentorship goes past identifying what we are good at and into developing what we want to be. High schoolers lead workshops and one-on-one sessions that focus on:

1. Strengths-spotting: recognizing the 24 character strengths in others to build appreciation.
2. Consistency: applying these strengths even when no one is looking.

Understanding the Other People Mindset

Perhaps the most valuable element our high school mentors bring is the focus on the Other People Mindset (OPM). OPM is a central pillar of P2 that encourages students to consider the perspectives and motivations of others actively.

High schoolers use their maturity to guide younger students through the five elements of OPM:

1. Identifying and appreciating the good in others.
2. Knowing that my words and actions affect others.
3. Supporting others when they struggle.
4. Cheering others on when they succeed.
5. Being present and giving others my attention.

This moves past simple sympathy and into intentional perspective-taking. In a conflict resolution scenario, a high school mentor might guide students to consider what the other person might be thinking alongside their own feelings. That practice reduces misunderstandings and leads to more constructive interactions throughout the building.

The Ripple Effect of Positivity

The overall effect of P2, powered by our mentorship model, is a school culture where students look out for one another. Students learn subjects, and they also learn how to be better people, ready to face the world with resilience and compassion. We believe that by teaching our students that other people matter, we are improving our school and the world beyond it, one student strength at a time.