BEATRICE - January is National Mentoring Month, and as this part of the calendar comes to a close, a radio station in Southeast Nebraska held a fundraiser to help reinforce the connection a statewide mentoring organization provides between mentors and their students in this part of the state. 

For an organization whose stated mission is to positively impact the world by inspiring students to reach their full potential, this event served as an inspiring start to the new year. 

On Thursday night, KWBE, the longstanding Beatrice radio station, welcomed more than 150 people to the Vintage Venue in downtown Beatrice for their first Rallies for Teammates event. 

Featuring a silent auction, a full catered meal, and special appearances from University of Nebraska student-athletes Teraya Sigler and Olivia Mauch, the event’s keynote address was jovially delivered by John Baylor, recently crowned the Nebraska Sports Broadcaster of the Year after his 32nd season as the voice of Nebraska Volleyball heard all across the state on stations like KWBE.  

"I had the honor last year to emcee a Omaha Public Schools Teammates graduation ceremony," Baylor said in his address. "And I wandered about the crowd before the official ceremony started and interviewed people, and this was really my first experience interviewing mentees. I’m talking to these mentees, and this is May of their senior year, and I was getting emotional because I was asking them, ‘What does this mentor mean to you?’ And in every instance – not just the first two, but the eighth, the ninth, the twelfth mentee I interviewed - [they said] ‘She’s made all the difference in my life. She’s been the secret to why I’m here today.’"

Born from a desire last Christmas to help get KWBE even more ingrained into their Gage County community, the charge of Thursday’s rally was to raise funds to support the Teammates Mentoring program at three local school systems: Freeman, Beatrice and Tri County.  

Teammates is a statewide operation that connects local kids that could use some extra guidance with adults that want to see them succeed. Some prospective mentors’ typical concerns are that they won’t have enough time, they won’t be good enough to help, or that the kids won’t like them – but the coordinators of the programs at these local schools said Thursday those fears quickly wash away once those considering joining the program finally jump in the water.  

"They’ll say ‘But I don’t know how to be a mentor!’ Well guess what, you all know how to be somebody’s friend – and that’s all these kiddos need, is an adult friend that’s safe, and you all are qualified," said Laura Edmonds, one of the Beatrice Teammates coordinators.

"They will always like you, for sure. The kids that want mentors in their life, that want that extra caring adult, are excited to have someone come visit them once a week," fellow Beatrice coordinator Christina Lyons said.

And the program produces many success stories, moving testimonials from seasoned mentors, who often are as positively impacted as the mentees are once their relationship reaches its conclusion.  

"It’s a program where you’re helping a student by caring for that student. We visit about how he’s doing in school, what his goals are, how he’s going to be able to achieve those goals...and I think just having one more caring adult in his life means something to him," said Connie Leech, who's served as a mentor in Beatrice for the last six years.

"My goal, personally, was to make sure my mentee graduated, to encourage her along those lines, and keep her focused on a goal," said fellow Beatrice mentor Dianne Aveyard. "When we started in sixth grade, she wanted to be a teacher. She had a lot of...problems, but she came through well. She graduated this December, and she’s not going to be a teacher, but she is in the health field. So I’m real proud of her. She just really wanted me to be a friend. She just wanted me to be there. So that’s what I did."

Between the cost of attendance, donations, the silent auction, plus a “loud” auction anchored by Baylor giving away two tickets to a 2026 Husker volleyball match, early tabulations indicated a few thousand dollars raised in this event alone – all of which will go towards the Teammates programs at these Southeast Nebraska schools.