Local mentoring programme Youth Net is more than half way to its goal of raising $1.5 million after The Argus Group donated $24,000 to the charity.

Youth Net is a school-based mentoring programme that was established in 1997. So far 450 students have benefited from the programme and currently there are approximately 380 students from 15 of the Island?s schools enrolled.

Argus Group president Gerald Simons has been a mentor for three years and mentored five boys. He said the company chose to donate money to the charity because it focuses on charities revolving around health, young people, cultural programmes and events.

?Youth Net is a good choice because it reaches a number of students,? he said. ?The Island as a whole has expressed concern about teens, especially young men, and their anti-social behaviour.?

?We have to ask the question when looking at 23-year-old convicts, where were they ten years ago? They were 13 year olds in school, we could have done something to lessen the chances of his involvement in anti-social behaviour if someone had been there for him.?

Mr. Simons spoke passionately about the subject and said statistically students who remain in school are more likely to excel in life. He said that studies have shown students who are mentored are more likely to stay in school.

Claire Mello, Youth Net?s executive director, explained that matching the student with a mentor is an important part of the programme?s success. Youth Net mentors are vetted and trained before a local student is selected for them. They charity also does background checks with the Bermuda Police Service to ensure that students are exposed to positive people with good intentions. The charity then tries to match the mentor with a student who could benefit from the relationship.

The mentor meets with the child, usually at his or her school, for a minimum of one hour a week. Mr. Simons said the programme was vital because the Island was no longer as community based as it was when he was a child. Extended families do not, necessarily, live in the same parishes and parents are often working hard to meet financial obligations.