TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy will honor Lewiston High School senior Mohamed Issak with the Excellence in Leadership and Service Award.

As a mentor in the Foundation’s Teen Trendsetters program at Longley Elementary School, Issak volunteers his time to provide coaching and support for a struggling young reader.

Teen Trendsetters is a family literacy program that pairs teen mentors with first, second, or third grade students who are, on average, six months or more behind in reading. Teens receive training as reading mentors, and meet regularly with their mentees for one-on-one mentoring sessions. A teacher-advisor coordinates the program and oversees the mentoring sessions. Jenn Carter serves as the adviser for the program at Longley, which has 100 participating students and teen mentors.

“Mohamed excels in his mentoring relationship with his elementary school mentee,” said Carter. “He brings an infectious energy that the younger students love, and develops creative ways to get his buddy excited about reading.”

Carter also said that Issak has shown exceptional leadership in promoting the Teen Trendsetters program in his school and community. He has taken the initiative to recruit student mentors, and has made presentations at several state conferences to spread the word about the program.

Since the inception of the program in 2002, more than 48,000 teens and elementary students have benefited. These teens have logged more than 465,000 volunteer hours and their mentees have received more than 320,000 books to become part of their at-home libraries.

In addition to the satisfaction of helping younger students learn to love reading, Teen Trendsetters mentors gain valuable leadership skills, and most excel academically.

“Mohamed exemplifies these high achieving students, 86 percent of whom go on to college,” said Liza McFadden, president and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation. “Teen Trendsetters mentors in Maine boast a 97 percent graduation rate, which is particularly impressive compared to the national overall graduation rate of 81 percent.”

FMI: www.helpthemread.org