By Natália S. Medina, Student at Avenues São Paolo, Brazil
High school fears and stress
When I began my high school journey at Avenues, I felt lost. Not because of a lack of resources, but because I was scared of the process. I’ve always looked up to the older grade levels and admired their strength and courage in swimming through the ocean, which I was so scared to dip my feet into. Throughout my 9th-grade year, I was covered with fears: the fear of not succeeding, the fear of being judged, the fear of not being enough, and especially the fear of being lost. If I could go back in time, I’d definitely seek advice from older people, especially Avenues students who had already experienced the tension of growing up and navigating high school. This was an essential reflection for the creation of the Big Sibs program.
Throughout my 9th-grade year, I was covered with fears: the fear of not succeeding, the fear of being judged, the fear of not being enough, and especially the fear of being lost.
I was a part of the Student Council during my 10th grade, where I met like-minded peers who had the same desire to boost students’ voices and create an environment where leaders would be created. When our Secondary Division Head, Tim McNamara, brought us the data from the Challenge Success Survey, we analyzed the information, and we noticed that the biggest causes of stress for Avenues students were grades, tests, plans, and mental health issues. Simultaneously, 33% of students said that they were somewhat confident in their ability to cope with stress, while 13% said that they were not at all confident, and 8% said that they were very confident when dealing with stress.
The student council starts problem solving
Making sure every student has a trusted peer at school.
Through this program, selected 11th and 12th grade students would serve as mentors offering studying techniques, guidance on academic decisions, support on stress management, and overall, a place where students would foster connections and feel hugged by the process, improving their confidence skills to jump into the ocean feeling ready to face any challenge that they encountered. The selection process for becoming a mentor was established both by the Student Council and by the teachers who were embarking on this journey with us. Since it would involve working with student well-being and leading conversations, we needed mentors who were willing to take two classes a week to learn what leadership is and how to take action based on mentees’ needs, challenges, and fears. Moreover, each candidate was required to submit an application justifying why they were an ideal fit for the role of being a mentor; students and teachers sat together and hand-picked the ideal applicants to pursue the Big Siblings program with us, ensuring the program would be a success.
9th graders matched with junior and senior peer mentors
Older students offer personal and academic support to incoming freshman.
In August 2025, the Student Council successfully launched the initiative embedded in the Avenues Curriculum as an enrichment for the chosen mentors. The excitement was real; we were thrilled to initiate Big Siblings and see our effort finally yield results. As soon as the program began, we began pairing each 9th grader with the best-fit mentor. During our initial leadership sessions, we sent out a form for all of the freshmen to fill out, where they had the space to explain who they were both personally and academically. Next, the mentors went through each submission and were required to choose 4-6 mentees that they would like to work with based on the similarities that were encountered when analyzing the profiles of the students. Weeks went by, and the pairing was complete; each student was aligned with a mentor who would closely accompany their journey for the next full year. The following months were filled with leadership classes, activity planning, coming up with ideal communication prompts, and, most importantly, the meetings with the mentees. Our mentor, Evan Hogan, was the chosen teacher to pursue the program with us. He was responsible for creating the leadership classes and ensuring that all of the mentors were on board with what we needed to do. Throughout the weeks, we explored different areas, such as what to do in different scenarios in relation to the mentees; we learned about Stoicism philosophy, we did a lot of group work with prompts to learn how to initiate a proper conversation, and overall, we were exposed to the necessary pillars of what it takes to be a great mentor.
When I reflect upon what the meetings with my mentees meant and felt like, a range of emotions strikes me. Being a Big Sib inspired me to be a better person, learn how to listen with attention, be empathetic, and show that you care. Our meetings were filled with doubts, laughs, reflections, moments of building connections, and a lot of bonding. For each meeting, I’d arrive with a prompt or an initial question to warm up the conversation; we discussed a lot about the differences between studying in Brazil and studying abroad, how to know your interests, how to manage social life with schoolwork, and I always opened space for them to ask anything they felt like was a rock in their path. My main priority was always to make them feel safe around me, like they could ask whatever came to their mind, and most importantly, know that I was there for them for whatever they needed, even if I wasn’t able to do much. I created deep bonds with each one of my 7 mentees; each one with a different story and a different personality, which was for me the best part of being a mentor. It was a huge success; the whole team united to make the program thrive, the meetings stayed aligned with our goal of promoting students’ well-being, and we fostered real connections with the 9th graders.
On the other hand, since it was the first time the program was running, not everything aligned as we had imagined. One of the biggest challenges we as mentors faced was the proper organization of the mentees with the mentors and ensuring that all 9th graders were aware of who their mentor was. Even though we worked hard to select the best mentors for the program who guaranteed that they would fully dedicate themselves to the program, there were moments where the mentors didn’t show full commitment as we expected, and as a consequence, many of the mentees up until now struggle identifying who they should go to, or feel like the match between them and their mentor didn’t work out. If I could go back in time, I’d ensure that all mentors were aware of the dedication required for the success of this program; It would be ideal to have students who were present at all times on the leadership meetings and in the gatherings with the mentees. Having 12th graders as mentors wasn’t ideal for the program, since many of the students weren’t present in the second semester due to college applications in Brazil. The backstage of the program is never perfect; there are always flaws that need to be tackled carefully and, with time, improve the program. Now, after almost one full year of Big Sibling mentoring, we are extremely proud of all the dedication that was added to creating this program, and mainly the results that we have received in relation to the mentees, despite challenges.