Being a student is already a challenge; however, adding a varsity-level sport on top of that can heighten the stress even more. For that reason, Director of Academic Support Lainey Sloman and Upper School Learning Specialist Kelsey Mumford created the sport mentor program in the early fall of 2025, “for new students on varsity [sport] teams to feel supported as they transition into a student athlete life.”
Mumford stated, “The number of mentors per team depends on team size and has typically ranged from 1-3 mentors per team.” She also notes that they normally select mentors from Class II or Class I, but “there have been Class III students who have been chosen.” Mumford also mentioned, “The program includes both boarders and day students,” and because “Students are chosen per team,” the learning specialist declared “there is representation of gender across athletic teams.”
Sloman and Mumford deemed this program necessary following their regular review of quarterly grades. They noticed that varsity athletes in Class IV or new in Class II and III struggled more compared to other groups of students, believing the reason to lie with the “difficulty [of] managing the time responsibilities of being on a varsity team while being a student as well.”
Upon trying to find a resource to aid these students with their academic and athletic commitments, both the director and the learning specialist believed other peers would be the best support, having experienced and adapted to the rigorous student-athlete life. These athletic mentors are usually students identified by Sloman and Mumford through the Academic Skills Center, whether as tutors or as users of academic support resources. Sloman thought this peer-to-peer support system to be the most effective, as mentors can “share their own experiences” and “offer advice on what has previously worked for them” when balancing student-athlete life. Mumford said that these students do not receive compensation or academic credit for their roles as mentors, saying the “program operates similar to a club with seasonal appointed positions.”
To make this support system between students best suited for each season, regular meetings between mentors and new athletes were scheduled to help with their transition. The talking points adapt with the season of the school year, with this current winter season not only focusing on the experience of being a student-athlete, but also including support related to midterm week. Sloman and Mumford noted that these meetings, which can occur anytime from before practice to car rides in mentors’ cars, cover a wide range of topics, including “access to resources, study methods, midterm week navigation” and more.
In addition to supporting new athletes with their transition, mentors try to develop “cross-grade relationships” to build their team dynamic and help the new athletes feel more connected and at home. The necessity of this program is demonstrated by the amount of positive feedback it received, as noticed by Sloman and Mumford and echoed by students who had participated in the program. Ella Higgins ‘28, a mentor on the girls varsity basketball team, enjoys the program as “it helps build stronger connections within the team” while “provid[ing] support both on and off the court.” She added that being a mentor feels “rewarding” as she’s helping “someone feel more confident and comfortable on the team.” Moreover, Higgins has seen a noticeable difference in the team environment, noting that the “younger players feel more confident speaking up and trust themselves more on the court,” that there’s a “stronger bond” between the players on the team, and that the “transition [onto the team] is way smoother.”
Shyla Ahluwalia ‘26, a mentor on the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team, also expressed her enjoyment of the program, feeling like a “big sister to them [through being] someone to come to for help.” Ahluwalia also mentioned her fondness of the “opportunities [for] bonding” through “car rides [and] chats before practice.”
Mentees have also expressed positive feedback for the program: many freshmen and new student-athletes in Class II and III have found it a helpful tool to transition into their student athlete life more smoothly. Ella Banning ‘29 has expressed her enjoyment of the program, saying that “it seems great” and that she enjoys it so far. Seeing her team dynamic with this program, Banning believes that this program “creates a more classless community on the team and [makes her and her teammates] feel more comfortable.” Phoebe Hajjar ‘28 found this program helpful, enjoying it as she “got to know some of [her] teammates better.” She notes the benefits of having this support, claiming that “it has helped them understand what means to be on a varsity team” and is a resource for them to “use whenever they have questions about anything.”
Not only was this program much appreciated by the mentors and mentees alike, but Sloman and Mumford found that it created partnerships between coaches and athletes as well, giving athletes the opportunity to speak more to their coaches about new students’ life outside of the sport. Although this program is currently only implemented in varsity sports, Sloman and Mumford, after receiving positive feedback, have already expressed their interest in expanding this program to other spaces, potentially including robotics, the Winter Dance Concert, the Speech and Debate team, and more. Mumford also stated, “We plan to review the program at the end of this year, and we hope to continue and improve it in future years.”