Yellowknife (Apr 28/06) - St. Patrick high school is putting students first.

A new mentoring program is underway to help partner students needing support, academically or otherwise, with positive adult role models.

"It's for kids we see having a lot of potential," said St. Pat's personal counsellor Gail Gerwing.

She is a part of the three-member committee that started the mentoring program in February.

The program - only two months old - is seeing results, according to some of the students being mentored.

"My grades have gone up 10-20 per cent," said a 16-year-old student who didn't want to be identified.

His mentor is principal Johnnie Bowden.

Thirty-five students in Grades 9 and 10 were asked to participate in the program.

St. Pat's sent out letters to the students' parents or guardians.

Thirty-one of those students agreed to be a part of the program.

Gerwing, a mentor for two students, said the mentors meet with the kids about once a month, but it quickly becomes more than that as the students become comfortable talking to their mentors.

Twenty-one staff and faculty have signed up to be mentors. Academic help and counselling are all a part of the job of a mentor, but Gerwing said it's more than formal meetings.

"Even just a smile or hello helps," said Gerwing.

The program is in its infancy, but co-ordinators hope it will take off and the relationships will continue throughout the students' time at St. Pat's.