Mentor Spotlights

Jonathan Pietkiewicz

Five years ago Jonathan Pietkiewicz came across an application for mentoring at work and felt motivated to fill it out. “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” he stated. Since that time, Jonathan has been mentoring two mentees through KABA’s (Kenosha Area Business Alliance) school-based mentoring program. One of the connections has spanned the entire five years and the other is in its second year. Jonathan sees both mentees once a week during his lunch hour, which his employer fully supports.

When asked if he and his mentees set goals, Jonathan was quick to reply that he doesn’t set goals in friendship. He then went on to explain that he will tutor if he sees that his mentee needs help to get better grades, and added that his sessions are mostly situational. Jonathan shared that he feels that both of his mentees look forward to seeing him each week, and he is glad he can simply play the role of a supportive male in their lives, and someone that remains consistent. When asked if there are challenges with mentoring, he responded by saying that the only real challenge is that there isn’t enough time available to spend with his mentees.

When asked about the importance of mentoring, Jonathan responded “mentoring makes it easier to feel like I’ve done something or made a contribution to my community.” Jonathan’s greatest piece of advice for mentors is to, “have fun with it; if you aren’t having fun, you are doing it wrong! When you are with your mentees you need to really remember accurately what it was like to be a kid, which will help you to empathize with their day to day scenarios.”

We appreciate all of the time and effort that Jonathan has given to his mentees and we thank him for sharing his experiences with us not only in this spotlight article, but also at Mentor Kenosha & Racine’s Introduction to Mentor training in August and KABA’s Fall Kick-off Luncheon in September. We are so grateful to mentors like Jonathan who give their time in order to help enrich the lives of the youth in our communities. Thank you Jonathan!

Past Mentor Spotlight Recipients

Leroy Petersen
Read Leroy's Article

Tom Meyer III
Read Tom's Article

Jackie Young
Read Jackie's Article

Lisa Anderson
Read Lisa's article