Foundation honors outstanding mentors
Eric Harmon did not attend Oklahoma Mentor Day on Tuesday at the University of Central Oklahoma. But that didn’t stop those he’s helped over the years from singing his praises.
Harmon, a retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. and motivational speaker, was among more than 60 mentors honored during the annual event sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and the foundation’s David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative.
“He inspires me to be more than I have been,” said Dachay Hill-Peters, 17, a student at Douglass Mid-High School. “He let me know that I am more than just a person. I have a voice, and he told me that I can use it. He taught me the proper way to use it. And I just appreciate him so much for that.”
Harmon was singled out by two different youth mentoring organizations — INTEGRIS Health’s Positive Directions mentoring program at Stanley Hupfeld Academy and Junior Achievement of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City.
The annual event featured speaker Alton Carter, the director of youth ministries for First United Methodist Church in Stillwater.
‘Give ‘em seeds of hope’
Carter, who lived in 17 foster homes, was the youngest of five children, all from different fathers.
“None of them stuck around,” he said.
Carter credited mentors for taking an interest in him and giving him the confidence to succeed at life. Carter, who graduated from Oklahoma State University, is a best-selling author and the first in his family to graduate from high school and college.
“Your job isn’t to save any of the kids or people that you’re mentoring. That is not your job, so let’s be very clear about that,” he said. “So if that’s what you think you’re called to do, you’re wrong. Your job is to give ‘em seeds of hope so they can save themselves.”
Heather Meldrum, a teacher at Stanley Hupfeld Academy, stood in for Harmon, who was out of town on business. She was accompanied by Eryanna Rollerson and Jeremiah Johns, two of his young mentees.
“Eric is a unique individual,” Meldrum said. “Eric takes mentoring to a whole new level. He not only mentors one child, he mentors about five or six at our school, and he incorporates a (Power to Be) club with our students to help them become better young men for the future.”
Hill-Peters and Chandler Campbell appeared at the event on behalf of Junior Achievement, which fosters work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills among young people.
Campbell, 24, met Harmon when she was in middle school. He has mentored her ever since.
“He’s helped me stay focus on things that matter most,” she said. “He’s seen me go through high school, undergrad, graduate (school), and now I’m in my professional career. There hasn’t been a time that he hasn’t been there for me.”