FARMINGTON — This past school year, more than 200 education majors studying at the University of Maine at Farmington worked one-on-one with students in area schools to help with school work and socialization, and to just be a friend.

The University Mentor and Friend Program is also providing the kind of additional student support, such as tutors, that school districts can no longer afford, according to UMF.

The mentoring initiative resulted in 4,930 volunteer hours spent at the W. G. Mallett School and Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington and the Academy Hill School in Wilton, according to the Mt. Blue Regional School District’s volunteer coordinator, Pauline Rodrigue.

She calculated the value of the volunteer hours, based on $14 an hour, was more than $69,000.

The small army of future teachers who participated in the pilot project was nearly double the number from prior years, Rodrigue said Thursday.

The collaboration was developed between Tiana Povenmire-Kirk, assistant professor of special education; Theresa Overall, assistant professor of education; Jan Welch, Mt. Blue Middle School guidance director; and Rodrigue.

“This program puts a dependable adult in a child’s life who is there just for them,” Rodrigue said.

Some volunteers were mentors in the nationally-recognized Girls Talk/Teen Voices program, started by UMF, that pairs adult and young community women with girls in grades five to eight. The relationships provide role models for the girls and support positive development of their aspirations and self-esteem.

Others signed up for Kids Can, a new program at Academy Hill School that offers after-school activities that help children overcome academic and social problems that hinder their learning, Rodrigue said.

Students also were “lunch buddies,” meeting their assigned “buddy” during lunch or recess at school to just talk.

One example of the success of the program was a friendship struck between a first -grade boy at the Mallett School and a male freshman education major, Rodrigue recalled.

“The teacher told me that when the young man would come in, the child’s eyes would just light up because this would be a special time for him,” she said.

The mentoring relationships developed through the program have far-reaching benefits for young students who need to experience positive outcomes, receive additional educational support and feel that someone else cares about their success, according to the UMF release.

As for UMF students who are thinking about teaching, the program gets them into schools early on in their educational experience as a part of their course work.