This fact of nature is the brains behind a new program launched at Scone High School last week.

The ‘Boys Mentoring Program’ is a joint initiative launched by Scone High School staff and the Scone Neighbourhood Centre through its former Virtual Shed project officer Bernie Rishke. 

Eight year seven boys are involved with six volunteer men from within the community who will visit the school every Tuesday afternoon for 10 weeks to offer mentoring and life lessons to the young teenagers. 

Scone High School principal Lindy Hunt said this was the first time for such a program at the school where the whole concept is to build the young boys’ confidence and self-esteem while also teaching them to interact with others in the community through the mentoring. 

Each week the students will meet with their mentor and talk about their interests, play board games and generally interact without any forms of modern or digital technology, while at the same time working towards a set of individual goals with the guidance of their role model. 

“It is very much an individual program that will depend on the relationship the student builds with their mentor,” Ms Hunt said.

“We want the boys to be able to benefit from the ‘wise-ness’ of the men.

“We hope they will develop the skills and values of working with other                 people that are valuable in life,” she said.

“Some of these skills are not necessarily developed in the classroom.”

One of the volunteers, Lance Munn, said when Lindy Hunt approached the Men’s Probus Club for volunteers he was more than happy to put up his hand. 

Mr Munn said he thinks the Boys Mentoring Program is a good scheme that Ms Hunt and the other teachers are clearly very passionate and                    supportive of. 

“I see it as a great way of helping the young lads and am very committed and supportive of the program,” Mr Munn said. 

“At our age we’ve had life skills, and we don’t say what is right or wrong, but we may be able to share our approach to some things, which hopefully will help them.”

The new boys program is a compliment to the current resilience programs Scone High School already provides for the female students.