Matilda Cuomo brings mentor program to Midwood
Seniors help freshmen cope with high school life
Even though it was many years ago, Matilda Raffa Cuomo said she still remembers how intimidated she felt when she first walked into Midwood High School as a freshman.
Cuomo, who was a student at Midwood in the 1940s, recalled how much she respected the students ahead of her, especially the seniors who knew their way around the building and looked comfortable in the classrooms. “You looked up to them,” she told the Brooklyn Eagle.
Luckily, today’s teenagers are getting a helping hand in learning the ropes of high school, thanks to a program that Cuomo, the wife of the late former Gov. Mario Cuomo and the mother of current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has developed and nurtured over the years.
Midwood High School, at 2839 Bedford Ave., is a new participant in the New York State Mentoring Program, a project that Matilda Raffa Cuomo chairs. The new program involves older students serving as guides to freshman. “It’s peer-to-peer,” Cuomo said.