Austin Mentors Program Builds Relationships Grounded in Care and Respect

Tuesday, April 28 marked the final Austin Mentors meeting of the year, bringing the group together for a meaningful and memorable close. Students spent time outside enjoying activities like Four Corners and kickball, creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere to celebrate their time together. Throughout the afternoon, peer mentors and mentees engaged in thoughtful conversations, reflecting on the connections they built over the year. It was a great way to wrap up the program, highlighting the strong sense of community, support, and growth that Austin Mentors fosters. View photos from the celebration.

Throughout the year, Austin Mentors has also embodied the values of veritas, unitas, and caritas—truth, unity, and compassion. The program creates space for students to come together across grades, building authentic relationships grounded in care and respect. Peer mentors model empathy and encouragement, while conversations promote honesty and self-reflection. These core values are woven into each meeting, helping students grow not only socially, but also as thoughtful and compassionate members of their community.

We also took time to recognize this year’s Mentor of the Year, Zachary Fleming '28. Zachary’s leadership, consistency, and genuine care for his mentees have made a lasting impact on the program. He exemplifies what it means to be a peer mentor, and his dedication has helped strengthen the Austin Mentors community.

Austin Mentors is managed by Austin Prep's Health and Wellness Office, which is in place to help support the whole student at Austin Prep. Social-emotional needs of students are supported by the counselors in the Health and Wellness Office. The office provides support by offering individual, as well as small group, counseling to students as needed.  Counselors work collaboratively with the student, parent and teachers as well as outside resources to support the whole student. Additionally, counselors provide in-classroom Health and Wellness lessons for all students in 6th through 9th grade. Individual sessions can be requested by the student, parent, or teacher referrals.

The Austin Mentors Program was designed post-COVID as an initiative to build in more face time for students to build meaningful connections and strengthen their “soft-skills."  Austin Mentors pairs Upper School students with 9th and 6th graders.  The Mentors meet with their mentees doing fun and engaging collaborative activities to build meaningful connections about once a month. Through our shared Augustinian values, a focus of the program is on building strong community citizens and understanding the harmful impact of harassment, bullying, ostracization and cyber-bullying on student wellness. The Health and Wellness Office also offers Parent University, which is hosted by our Middle School Counselor to help support and guide Middle School parents through the difficult transition of adolescents and middle school.