In a remote corner of the Lansing Public Library, among notebooks, worksheets and a Winnie the Pooh backpack, the noses of 13-year-old Mushirah Thomas and finance senior Pablo Alleyne are buried deep in a textbook.
Thomas is like most girls her age: She dances, listens to Bow Wow CDs and hates homework. But their work quickly turns to conversation.
Alleyne is her mentor and tutor. During the session, the MSU student says he also is assigned an abundance of homework, especially math, and wants to work in a bank when he graduates.
"You can't!" exclaims Mushirah. "You'll get robbed!"
Two hours of math and science problems pass before the pair part. Thomas, an eighth-grade student at Dwight Rich Middle School, goes to her Lansing home, and Alleyne heads back to his Snyder Hall room.
But the friendship isn't unique in the Lansing area.
The duo is one of 80 pairs in the Spartan Friends Program, which couples MSU and Lansing Community College students with at-risk 10- to 15-year-old Lansing School District students for one-on-one tutoring and mentoring.
The student and mentor meet twice a week for two hours. Sixty percent of the program's mentors are college students, mostly from MSU.
Earlier this month, the program received $36,000 from the city of Lansing to hire an additional coordinator to recruit and train another 80 volunteer mentors.
The announcement came after a recommendation was made earlier this month by the Greater Lansing Association for Development and Empowerment to assist a larger number of students.
Spartan Friends students are referred by their school counselors to improve their levels of academic achievement and self-esteem. Preference is given to "at-risk" students, which includes students who are raised by a single parent, have an older sibling that is a dropout or live below the poverty line.
Lena Thomas, Mushirah's mother, said her daughter was diagnosed with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, two years ago and needed extra help to understand her homework. She said the program has been beneficial for her daughter.
"The program has helped with her learning and to get a better understanding of what she's working on," she said. "It's given her an edge in math and reading."
Other community organizations, including the Capital Area United Way, also will increase their support to facilitate the expansion.
It's an addition that John Jackson, one of the program's mentoring coordinators, hopes to see soon.
Jackson is a member of the Youth Development Corporation, a nonprofit Lansing organization which has administered the Spartan Friends Program since its inception in 1993.
And the program has created significant results, with a 1.0 grade-point-average increase in about 67 percent of students in the program, Jackson said.
"Some kids might say, 'I'm not as rich as this kid or my clothes aren't as nice as that kid's, but at least I'm good at math or at science,'" Jackson said.
Jackson maintains a strong rapport with each student's parents as well as all of the mentors. He also requires each mentor to provide him with a weekly report of his or her student's progress. The mentors do the same for each parent.
"Most students come to help the community, one kid at a time," Jackson said.
The students being mentored aren't the only ones feeling the benefits, Jackson said.
"The program is successful for the mentors, too," he said. "They leave with a sense of pride and satisfaction."
John Tucker, Youth Development Corporation executive director, said mentors are required to spend an equal amount of time with fun, leisurely activities as they do with academics.
"It can be anything from going bowling to playing ball to seeing a game to going to an art museum," Tucker said. "A lot of time, they even do community service projects together."
MSU students find their way to the Spartan Friends Program on different paths. Some are required to volunteer for coursework, while others go through MSU's Service-Learning Center.
Alleyne, who volunteered after a church member recommended the program, has been on both sides of the textbook. As a boy, he said his family forced him to be tutored by his sister every day. At the time, he said he wasn't too pleased.
"Eventually, I saw the benefits," Alleyne said.
He says the benefits from tutors are evident once again - but this time they're seen in Mushirah.
"Kids who need help should get it," he said. "I can give it so I have to do it. I just thought I could help out."
Those interested in volunteering as mentors in the Spartan Friends Program can get more information by contacting the Youth Development Corporation of Lansing at (517) 482-2081.
Don Jordan can be reached at jordand3@msu.edu.
