DeMoine Adams spoke to Lincoln East Rotary Club about TeamMates. DeMoine was born in Arkansas, came to Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and play football. He played football at UNL for three years and earned his degree, besides he learned to be a mentor to a student during those three years. After graduation, he went to play football in the NFL, thought that he might return to the South, but instead returned to UNL to earn another degree and married a Nebraskan. They have four children. His wife is a mentor for TeamMates.
TeamMates was started 34 years ago by Tom and Nancy Osborne. Today TeamMates is in five states, where Nebraska is the largest.
A mentor provides a young person with unconditional friendship, support, and encouragement. Mentors give the gift of focused time. They build a relationship by spending time listening and acting as sounding boards for their students. Over time, mentors help young people affirm strengths, build confidence, encourage positive choices, and visualize a bright future.
TeamMates mentoring program matches young people with one-to-one mentors. Mentors are volunteers from the community who have made a commitment to this program and their student. Matches meet together at school each week for approximately one class period.
Lincoln TeamMates currently serves nearly 1200 matches in more than 70 public and private schools in our community.
TeamMates Mentoring Program Mission
The mission of TeamMates is to positively impact the world by inspiring students to reach their full potential through mentoring.
Lincoln TeamMates Core Values
Commitment to Youth; Safety; Integrity and Trust; Inclusion; and Strengths-Based
Beginning of Program
The TeamMates Mentoring Program began in 1991 with the vision of University of Nebraska Head Football Coach Tom Osborne and his wife Nancy. That year 22 football players met with middle school students in Lincoln Public Schools. Coach Osborne felt that the athletes in his program could make an impact on the academic success of these middle school students. Of those 22 original mentees, 21 graduated from high school, and 18 went on to graduate from post-secondary programs.
DeMoine said that students are paired with mentors from Grade 3 through post-secondary. Mentors do training which is held at the LPS District office. All mentoring is done only throughout the school year. A mentor must meet weekly, except during holidays and other school breaks. A mentor must meet the student at least 24 times during the school year, which actually has 39 weeks of schooling throughout the year. It may surprise you how many former students, who have gone through the TeamMates program will contact a former mentor to update that mentor on what has been happening in their lives.
Today, the Lincoln TeamMates serves 1300 students and there are 500 waiting for a mentor. The need for mentors is great. Remember that those students are our future leaders, and as a mentor you can make a difference in their lives. If you are interested in being a mentor or want more information contact TeamMates.org.
“We know that one student at a time, we can make a difference, not only in this generation, but for the generations to come.” -Dr. Tom Osborne, TeamMates Co-Founder