As the day of his first SuperMENtors visit drew closer, Dr. Arthur Sylvester was eager to arrive at Fonwood Head Start this week.

After joining Harris County Department of Education to lead the Human Resources division in January 2024, Sylvester was introduced to SuperMENtors but couldn’t officially get on board midway through the school year.

The SuperMENtors program began in 2002 as part of the Head Start Significant Male Initiative to bridge together male role models and volunteers in the classroom with students – in this case Harris County’s youngest learners across 12 Head Start campuses.

Mentors range from HCDE leadership and staff members to various community and business partners. They commit to monthly visits at their respective campuses, beginning in October and continuing through April.

Students also receive a copy of   the books read each month to build their own personal home library.

SuperMENtors officially kicks off in September with meet-and-greet days.

In May, Head Start students celebrate their mentors and thank them with performances, personalized cards and signs, and other gestures of appreciation.

Sylvester couldn’t get onboard until this year but knew Fonwood would be his future home after joining fellow HCDE leadership for center visits. He learned more about the program and discovered Fonwood didn’t have any SuperMENtors at the time.

“So, I told them, ‘Sign me up for this one,’” he said. “Male role models are missing in a lot of households. Even when some of these students engage with males, sometimes it’s not a positive thing.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 35 percent of households with children in Harris County as recent as 2023 were calculated as single-parent household families. The rate has increased every year since 2020.

Census data from 2020 also shows an overwhelming majority of non-married family households are led by a female compared to those led by a male.

That’s what makes SuperMENtors so unique – the program connects students as young as three years old to positive male figures who commit to them with regular visits and invest into their success at this early stage before moving on to kindergarten.

“We’re in the middle of Fifth Ward so we have parents who are absentee, incarcerated or things like that, so for the students to see men come in and read, it gives them the sense that education is cool and learning to read is cool,” Dogan Head Start Manager Shenekia Hines said. “We always see women reading. The majority of teachers are women, so when they see the men come in – especially for the boys – it gives them a sense of hope.”

Added Sylvester: “I love reading and I love learning, and that’s what we do. We promote that not by what we say but by what we do. You can say one thing but if your actions don’t align with what you’re saying, it doesn’t really matter.”

Among the SuperMENtors within HCDE are Superintendent James Colbert Jr. (Dogan), assistant superintendents Jonathan Parker (JD Walker), Dr. Jesus Amezcua (Compton) and Dr. CJ Rodgers (Channelview), and division directors Joe Carreon (Coolwood), Jeff Drury (Dogan) and Dr. Charles Ned (Channelview). Sylvester and Academic and Behavior School West Principal Jatata Hutton (Coolwood) are both new mentors this school year.

Board Trustees have served in the past as well.

Volunteers also come from the business sector and other community partnerships, while others are simply volunteers looking to give back to Harris County’s youngest learners.

Journey of Faith Pastor Stephen Goldsmith is reading at Humble Head Start, a partnership built in part as the two share the same site off Atascocita Road.

Like other SuperMENtors and their organizations, Goldsmith does a lot more than reading at Humble. Journey of Faith holds community events and undertakes generous donations and giveaway drives accessible to Head Start families throughout the year.

“As a pastor, I am an advocate for early education and trying to ensure that we provide the tools needed and necessary to help shape the future of our young people, and to do that as early as we can,” Goldsmith said. “So, when they asked me to do this, it was a no brainer for me. It’s a joy to see their beaming faces and it’s always been a joy for me to watch young children receive the stories.”

It’s routine to see SuperMENtors bring gifts and trinkets to their classes depending on the time of year or upcoming holiday.

Others even go a step further.

Amezcua has been connected to Compton Head Start for several years, serving the area in northeast Houston and providing financial consultation to the former North Forest Independent School District, which closed in 2013 and absorbed into neighboring Houston ISD.

“This area is very near and dear to my heart,” Amezcua said. “That’s why I picked this area. I started doing work with North Forest many years ago and saw that Compton was close to the school district. So, when I heard about SuperMENtors, I decided to do it here.”

Amezcua and HCDE’s Business Services division bless two Compton families during Thanksgiving each year, donating baskets full of food and a turkey voucher for a full holiday meal, in addition to toys and other items.

In December, Amezcua dresses up as Santa Clause for his visit. Rodgers dressed as an elf when he visited Channelview last year.

“I just love the excitement of the children and being able to interact with them,” Amezcua said. “I hope we can make them feel happy about getting to read and get them excited about the whole process of reading.”

As SuperMENtors continue visiting their respective centers, they’re building relationships with the young students, who grow to expect the monthly reading dates. Mentors are routinely welcomed as they walk into a classroom and buried in hugs before leaving.

Additionally, you’ll see mentors reinforcing small lessons such as sitting calmly on the carpet, listening and staying focused on the task at hand.

And it means something impactful coming from a positive male figure.

“That part is very valuable – especially for our little boys – because as they grow up, they’ll be able to remember that they had a male role model come in and read to them,” Compton Head Start Manager Merevonna Ross-Daniel said. “They can say to themselves, ‘When I become a parent, I can read to my child.’

“This program makes me very proud and not necessarily because of the reading, but because they feel welcome at our centers and the mentors value the program. That puts the cherry on top of the ice cream that they chose us.”