Being a mentor for young kids can seem like a daunting responsibility. All of a sudden you are supposed to be someone's role model, someone who they can look up to, and you are expected to be able to give sound life advise. Despite the anxiety this may give you, you could be the light at the end of someone's tunnel or even be the person they want to be when they grow up. I know from experience that mentoring younger kids, in any way, is incredibly simple and rewarding that everyone should try at least once.

There are many different ways to act as a mentor to younger kids: tutoring, being a camp counselor, volunteering to coach a sports team, etc. I found my way to mentoring by accident through my hometowns pageant system. The word pageant may sound a little shallow, but let me break it down for you.

I have competed in my towns yearly "beauty" pageant since I was eight years old (I put the word beauty in quotations because there was no swimsuit competition and physical beauty was not taken into account with the scoring, but it is the easiest way to paint my picture here). There are three age categories: Little Miss-ages 6-8, Junior Miss-ages 11-13, and Miss-ages 16-21. All of the contestants compete in three categories: Interview, on stage speech, and stage presence and grace. After that the top 5 scorers answer a pop question and the winners are chosen. The winners are then expected to be active ambassadors of their town and participate in various community events throughout the year.

I competed in the town pageants since I was eight years old. I went through all three age groups, year by year, and never winning but always enjoying the chance to get on stage and have fun. It essentially became a yearly ritual for me and my friends to prepare for the pageant together every summer and then compete against each other. It wasn't until 10 years after my first pageant that I eventually won for the first time as a Miss. I was 18 years old and now had my very own Junior Miss and Little Miss; they were eight and eleven, and the closest thing I've ever had to little sisters up until that point.

The three of us spent our summers and holiday season together going to different town functions, parades, fundraisers, and community events. I'd send them letters from college and we'd schedule sleepovers when I was home on fall or Christmas break. For the first time I felt what it was like to have someone look up to you, and not just because I was taller than them. Two young girls shared their problems with me; about teachers, the mean girls at school, the fight with their best friend, and what they should say to break-up with their "boyfriend" after dating for six days. These girls weren't even in middle school yet and some of their problems seemed quite trivial to a college student, but a lot of the time I was completely stumped about what to say and what kind of advise is helpful to someone who can't even drive a car yet.

Being the oldest in the group of three, and the Miss for my town, part of my task was to select a platform and implement it some way in the town that year. My platform was technically "encouraging young girls to have self confidence by having a positive body image," but throughout the year it developed into just trying my best to get involved in the school districts in my town and make myself visible and attainable to the students to talk to. I organized food drives, helped students wrap holiday presents or make Valentine's cards, read to kids about summer safety, and gave speeches about self-confidence and how to use affirmations to focus on the positive. It was a great feeling for me to see the kids actively participate in the activities we did together while I visited the schools, but even more thrilling to see them approach me in public (if I had a crown and sash on or not) and say hi to me and chat a while. These children were comfortable with me and saw me as a friend and that alone made me feel like I made a difference in my community and in their lives.

There are many moments that stand out in my mind as reasons to why I love being a mentor for younger kids, too many to count probably. Mentoring may be especially important for me because I never had a younger sibling to help out as they grew up. However, whether you have 6 younger siblings or none at all I think everyone should volunteer in some kind of mentoring program at one point in their lives. There is something incredibly special about building a trusting friendship from scratch with someone who was once a total stranger because you never know how much help you can be until you try/ Plus, you may realize that the mentee will help you grow too.