Looking back at four years of weekly get-togethers, Breeanna Paine, 14, and Jennifer Archer, 42, said they’ve done nearly every local activity: walks along Burnt Bridge Creek, Zumba classes and trips to Portland to attend plays or go to the zoo.
“You name it, we’ve pretty much gone there. … Remember when we went fishing?” Archer asked Paine. “It was horrendous,” she said, grimacing as she described the slimy, flopping trout.
“It was fun. I wasn’t grossed out,” Paine said.
They both agreed, though, that it was an adventure.
The pair’s relationship was honored last month when they were selected as the mentor and mentee pair of the year. The award is given out by the Clark County Mentoring RoundTable, a group of nonprofit organizations, government agencies and community members that promote and support mentoring in the county.
The award is the first of its kind locally. The group wanted a way to recognize the unique relationships formed through mentoring. Many of the area mentoring programs target vulnerable and at-risk youth.
The award “is really a great thing that we’ve been lacking,” said Cindy Fritz, program coordinator at 4Results Mentoring and a member of the Clark County Mentoring RoundTable.
Fritz nominated Paine and Archer for the award because of the big change she’s seen in Paine since she started with the program at age 10.
Fritz said what struck her was “the boost of self-confidence that Breeanna now has. She just carries herself so beautifully.”
During fourth and fifth grade, Paine’s grades were slipping as she started having family problems.
“That was really more on my mind than school,” Paine said.
Paine attended counseling, and her counselor recommended that she enter the mentoring program. Around the same time, Jennifer Archer had applied as a volunteer.
“I was looking for that one-on-one,” Archer said. So mentoring, she said, “seemed right for the person I am and for what I wanted to do.”
After a nervous first meeting, the two began seeing each other weekly. Paine started opening up to Archer, who was there for her when she wanted advice, wanted to vent or just wanted to roll down the windows and blare pop music.
Now, Archer said, “I couldn’t imagine not knowing her. … It’s not really an effort, I just naturally want to be with her.”
Now the freshman has turned her grades around. She made the honor roll nearly every term during middle school and is currently taking part in the medical magnet program at Fort Vancouver High School.
“She’s doing great in school. I’m so proud of her,” Archer said. “She’s got a good head on her shoulders.”
The improvement in her school work, Paine said, partly comes from “just having someone to talk to who isn’t a family member” — even though the two describe their relationship more like that of an aunt and niece.
Though there is only a one-year minimum commitment to the program, both Archer and Paine said they have no plans to end their friendship. Paine said she wants Archer there for when she hunts for an apartment in a few years and, one day, a wedding dress.
“There is no ‘end,’ ” Archer said.
