To view the iMentorship program in action, click here.

It was a busy day for Fleming Elementary on Thursday, February 16. Several dozen David Thompson Secondary students from Ronda Leung's Family Managment class  were on site to provide some fun internet safety activities to Fleming's Grade 4 students as part of this iMentorship initiative.

The activities were as varied as they were interactive. One group of students had a short video displayed on a Smart Board. The video showed what happens when classmates make fun of other classmates with Facebook or Twitter. The lesson? Just because it's on a Facebook Wall doesn't make it any less hurtful.

Another group of DT students designed a jeopardy game addressing a wide range of online issues. A third group presented a short skits designed to illustrate the dangers of online conversations with adults who you don't know. There were five workshops in all covering the key themes of online safety, citizenship, permanence of digital images and decision making.

This February's 2nd annual iMentorship conference was the third and final one of this year. Earlier conferences were held at Tecumseh and Douglas Elementary Schools and were delivered by Susanna James and Jackie Dowlings Planning 10 students. The conferences are all thanks to a blossoming partnership between the DT school community (elementary and secondary), the David Thompson Community School Team, Kayo Devcic and SACY (Vancouver Coastal Health) and Jan Sippel from the VBE.

The DT  Community School Team coordinator Teri Corcoran says this year and last years iMentorship conferences have been so effective for both the secondary and elementary students that her team are hoping to offer the lessons developed for the program to other schools who may wish to implement them within their family of schools in the coming years. 

Corcoran says one of the most powerful aspects of this model of delivery is its ability to connect older and younger students in an educational fashion and to futher develop valuable relationships between both the students and staff in the elementary and secondary schools in the David Thompson hub.

"The high school students really step up to the plate when presenting to the younger students," says Corcoran. "The great thing about iMentorship is it's coming from older students to younger ones in a stimulating and interactive way. The students and staff are really enthusiastic about the experience and everyone comes out of it having learned something!"

VSB staff say they are grateful for the financial support of Coast Capital Savings, which has made the expansion of the program possible.

To download the iMentorship Program Guide, click here. To download the iMentorship Presentation (for class 3), click here.