Jan 18, 2008

Pair promote benefits of mentoring

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

Iliana Medina was selected to be in a nationally televised public service announcement, but she hopes it flies under the radar.

"I'm kind of embarrassed. I'm like, 'Oh my God, I don't want to see it!' You know?" says the 18-year-old Sequoia High School senior, talking a mile a minute.

But, "I'm hoping it does something for someone," she added.

The ad, available on YouTube, shows the Redwood City teen with her mentor of five years, 28-year-old Jennifer Ashford. It's a promotion for National Mentoring Month, when agencies around the country make a recruiting push for adult role models.

"(Medina) has transformed into an amazing young woman, and I feel so fortunate to be a part of that," a smiling Ashford says in the ad.

Both women say they hope the spot, which has been distributed to Bay Area TV stations, inspires others to pair up in a mentorship program like theirs, Friends for Youth.

Thousands of county youths are involved in different kinds of mentoring programs, from group activities to tutoring, said Debra Pomroy, who works in San Mateo County's adolescent services division. Still, she said a recent county survey of agencies found that more than 700 children in the county are on waiting lists for mentors.

The Mentoring Coalition of San Mateo County plans to hold several events toward the end of the month, including a mentoring conference to share ideas and a forum for teenagers to share how mentoring has helped them, said Becky Cooper, co-chairwoman of the coalition.

For Medina, the experience has changed the direction of her life.

"When I was young, I had problems and Jennifer helped me out," Medina said. "I think if I would have never met her I probably would have dropped out of school."

The two were matched in March 2003. Medina's older sister was pregnant at age 14. She spent a lot of time on the streets, got in fights, got bad grades.

Now, she made the honor roll for the first time. She joined an after-school leadership class. She wants to graduate, go to college and become a probation officer.

Beyond that, her friendship with her mentor "has definitely matured and progressed extensively over five years," said mentor Ashford, 28 and a Redwood City resident.

Last year, Medina flew out to Ashford's wedding in Indiana to be part of that celebration.

"A lot of the friendship at the beginning was all about her and her talking and her spilling her guts to me, and now it's more of a relationship and much more two-way," Ashford said.

As for Medina's trepidation about people seeing the ad, she can stop worrying about her mentor. Like Medina, Ashford says she doesn't watch TV.

Iliana and Jennifer's ad is available at www.youtube.com/mentoringmonth2008.



E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.