MENTOR Nebraska, the unifying champion of Nebraska’s mentoring movement, announced the 2022 honorees of the Annual Excellence in Mentoring Awards. The Excellence in Mentoring recipients represent the breadth and depth of the mentoring movement and the power of mentoring relationships to support, inspire, and engage young people across Nebraska. This year’s awards ceremony took place virtually on April 6 and celebrated young leaders, mentors, advocates, and mentoring practitioners across Nebraska.
MENTOR Nebraska honored Community Connections mentor, Jason Merz, with the Mentor of the Year Award. “It is nice to be recognized, but I don’t think anyone does it for that,” said Jason Merz. “I appreciate it and it’s a nice honor to have.”
For five years, Jason Merz has been Dylan Briscoe’s mentor. They have different interests, but it also makes their bond unique. Dylan is interested in reading, art, and playing video games and Jason is a sports enthusiast who enjoys playing golf. They have exchanged hobbies and activities, which creates more opportunities for their relationship to evolve.
“It is good that he exposes me to new things, and I’ve gotten him interested in things that he probably wouldn’t have seen or done if I wasn’t in his life,” said Merz. “When we first went golfing, he was apprehensive, but now we do it more often. We have been Prairie Art Center and participated in tie-dying, which I have never done my whole life.”
“I would encourage any adult who has extra time, even an hour or two a month, to get involved with mentoring,” said Merz. “Time is one of the most important things we can offer to kids. You never know what kind of effect you can have on someone’s life, even with just a few minutes or a few kind words.”
For more information on the event and past award recipients, visit www.mentornebraska.org/excellence-inmentoring-awards/.
MENTOR Nebraska, a member organization for mentoring programs across Nebraska, has been the unifying champion for quality youth mentoring for more than 20 years. MENTOR Nebraska leads the mentoring movement by supporting and collaborating with mentoring programs across the state. Their work is research based with the ultimate vision to close the mentoring gap and drive equity through quality mentoring relationships for young people. This is achieved through advocacy efforts, training mentors and youth-serving professionals, providing no-cost consultation to mentoring programs, and recruiting mentors. For more information about MENTOR Nebraska, visit www.MENTORNebraska.org.