Rose Tuttle Helps With Teammates in the Community

By: Kelsey

Mrs. Rozy Tuttle, a Physical Education teacher at the Ogallala Middle School has been helping with the Teammates Mentoring Program for 4 years. Teammates is a school-based mentoring program whose goal is to provide support and encouragement to school aged youth.  The program is open to ANY student who would like to have another positive influence in their lives.

Mrs. Tuttle started helping students in the community as soon as she started teaching middle school back in 1994.  Red Ribbon Week, Kick Butts Day (anti-tobacco) and Pre-School P.E. are various community service projects that she has been a part of.  Under the influence of her fellow colleague, she also was involved in various service learning projects through the Americorps. Mrs.Tuttle, with the help of former school psychologist, Linda Lund, was instrumental in bringing the Teammate Mentoring program to the community.  The program currently has 28 matches in the high school and middle school.

Josie Hughes and Maylee Garcia are two members of Teammates. “My grades have improved a lot.” Maylee said. Maylee’s mentor is Candy Spady. They meet every Wednesday in the middle of the day for about 25 minutes. During the holidays they have made a gingerbread house and also a bowl for Maylee’s mother saying “I love you mom” and “Happy Mothers Day.” April Thraen is Josie Hughes's mentor. They meet every Friday at the end of the school day for 20 minutes. They usually play a board game or talk to one another about their week. Josie quoted “I can talk to her about stuff that I can’t talk to anyone else about, and I can trust her.”

Mrs. Tuttle has changed many students' lives during the past years. The community has been blessed to have the Teammates Mentoring Program. If you would like to become a member of teammates go to www.teammates.org and sign up to become a mentor for a student. “Making a difference in a person’s life is definitely a social action,” quoted Mrs. Tuttle.