Mentorship is crucial to student success

Mentorship helps Lansing’s young people make informed and supported decisions through our lived experiences. In my years as a mentor in our community, I have held on to two ideas: The need for growth drives behavior and autonomous motivation is important.

DeYeya Jones serves the Lansing Promise Foundation Board, the Lansing Alumni Chapter Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and the Bring It In Foundation

These assumptions are rooted in the self-determination theory, which suggests an individual has three universal psychological needs that must be fulfilled to become self-determined. When students feel competent, connected and autonomous, the control and self-directed actions students take as a result brings about real change. As mentors, we can and should create the spaces for these experiences to help students meet those needs. We can and must facilitate learning new skills, offer autonomy and ensure they have a real sense of belonging.

We want our young people to feel the satisfaction of being in control of their decisions. As mentors we try to help young people think strategically about their decisions. We can’t make those decisions for young people; we try to hold onto them long enough that decision making gets better and they make a positive paradigm shift.

In the absence of mentorship, young people miss out on valuable prospects of learning about mistakes and achievements we’ve experienced over time. Most importantly though, without mentors, young people miss out on the opportunity for lifelong sustainable relationships. 

That knowledge and those relationships are crucial as Lansing’s youth make decisions along their path toward success—success they deserve with the support of our community and organizations like the Lansing Promise