Region – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & MetroWest (BBBS), parent organization of the Mazie Mentoring Program, recently hired Brandon Portillo to manage the Mazie Mentoring Program at Framingham High School and Calleigh Leach to manage the program at Waltham High School. The Mazie Mentoring Program matches volunteer mentors with high school students in need of extra guidance and support through their sophomore to senior years.
Portillo and Leach will be working directly with the staff and students to recruit new mentees while building a relationship with the existing mentor/mentee matches.
Portillo is joining the team at the Mazie Mentoring Program with more than five years of experiencing working with youth in the Metrowest region. Most recently, he was the AmeriCorps Massachusetts Promise Fellow for the Metrowest College Planning Center in Framingham. In this role, Portillo coached 70 high school seniors through the post-secondary education enrollment process. In doing so, he designed and facilitated college access and success seminars focused on financial aid, financial literacy, and college and career planning.
Leach first connected with the BBBS mission when she began mentoring through the Worcester Area College Mentors Program. She was a Big Sister to two Littles during her undergraduate and graduate studies. She then continued on with BBBS in 2017-2018 as the Highland Street AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring program and in this role oversaw the site-based youth mentoring programming at Nichols College in Dudley. The staff at BBBS are grateful to have her return in this new role as Waltham Manager for the Mazie program.
The Mazie Mentoring Program fulfills the legacy of John Andrew Mazie, a man who was a mentor to many young people before tragically dying in a car accident. In his honor, his parents Barbara and Lowell Mazie created the Mazie Mentoring Program. Since its foundation in 1998, the program has served over 1,000 students in both Framingham and Waltham High Schools. In 2019, a third program was started serving students at Marlborough High School. The program recruits and trains adult volunteers to mentor and act as role models for high school students at risk of not reaching their full potential.
To learn more about the Mazie Mentoring Program, visit www.mazie.org or its parent organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & MetroWest, www.bbbscm.org.
