At-risk teens drawn to mentor

COSTA MESA — Cyndie Borcoman looks around the special-education classroom at Estancia High School twice a month and sees a wide range of young people — some handicapped, some not; some struggling to read and write, and others tutoring them as best they can.

But Borcoman, the on-site leader for Santiago Creek Community School in Santa Ana, sees a definite link among all the students. Her school, run by the Orange County Department of Education, services at-risk teens who have dropped out or been expelled, and like many special-needs students, they haven’t always had people counting on them to succeed.

Every two weeks, Santiago Creek students meet with their peers at Estancia and work on art projects together. On Tuesday, the groups met for the last time this year, as the Estancia students decorated wooden frames that will contain their class portraits.

“They have a special feeling because they’ve been through a lot of barriers themselves,” Borcoman said as she observed her students acting as tutors around Terri Wert’s classroom.

The Estancia-Santiago Creek teams have turned out a number of art projects this year, including self-portraits, collages and landscapes. Most of the time, the special-needs students draw or paint while their mentors guide them through the process. This spring, the young artists got some recognition; Wert said each student submitted one piece for an exhibit in the countywide Imagination Celebration.

Robert Gonzalez, a 10th-grader from Santiago Creek, said he was wary at first of working with special-needs students, because he was afraid they wouldn’t understand him. It turned out to be easier than he thought.

“You make friends,” Robert, 16, said. “It’s pretty fun working with them.”

One table over, Estancia ninth-grader Gina Lorenzi was busy decorating her frame with stickers of her favorite Disney characters. Working with the Santiago Creek students, she said, was one of her favorite parts of the month.

“It’s good education,” Gina, 15, said.