By Melissa Sirrine
Once a week, when Cade Close just can''t cram accounting for one more second, he takes a break. The surprising thing is that he chooses to spend his breaks mentoring Tyler, a 14-year-old boy from Orem. If Close needs to wash his car, wants to play sports or read Harry Potter, he just brings Tyler along.
Close, an accounting major from Prescott, Ariz., along with many other BYU students, is a mentor with the Safety Net Mentor Program.
The Safety Net Mentor Program is designed to provide college-age mentors for children in need. The program is finding its way into the lives of young adults all over Provo, and offering unique opportunities.
More than just a mentoring experience, the program has also served as an internship for communications students.
David Shane Johnson, a senior majoring in public relations, worked as an intern for Safety Net last year. Johnson worked along with the program''s director on various projects including writing press releases, working on the program''s public relations campaign and writing feature stories.
'The greatest benefit of the Safety Net Program was the practical experience,' Johnson said.
The variety of the projects he was able to tackle while working there, he said, helped him prepare for a career in public relations and learn that the profession isn''t quite as easy as one would think.
'There was more red tape to go through than I thought,' Johnson said.
Johnson admits that though the internship helped him further his career goals, the service the program provides for the children of Utah is the most important thing.
'The best thing about the program is the lives that it touches and the children that it helps,' Johnson said.
Karla Sedillo, the program''s founder and director, said the driving force behind the program is providing youth with stable role models whose examples they''ll want to follow in the years to come.
Sedillo got the idea for the program while working as a counselor at the Slate Canyon Youth Center, where she noticed a need for mentoring among Provo''s youth-and she immediately began working to fill that need. Sedillo initially proposed that mentors come to the facility and work with the youth there, but soon, her endeavors spread through the whole community.
As one of these mentors, Close said his focus is being Tyler''s friend, helping him get more college-focused, and teaching him the value of service.
'They''re trying to get us to actually teach them how to get service into their life,' Close said.
Mentors are required to spend just one hour a week impacting the lives of youth ranging in age from five to 18 years old.
Aside from teaching the youth and providing good experiences for them, mentors grow significantly from the experience too, Close said.
'It helps me step out of the mundane schedule and realize the bigger picture,' Close said.