As a group of four, senior Reuben Vizelman and his three mentees — 9th graders Nathan Mann, Griffin Moore, and Alexander Moore — stand out in the crowd of mentor-mentee groups.

The mentor program initiative connects upperclassmen to incoming 9th graders to mentor. The purpose of the program is to seamlessly integrate the new arrivals into the Upper School community by giving them a support system and a guide through rough patches.

The mentorship involves semi-frequent meetings in which mentors talk to mentees about anything they have questions about — most conversations are geared towards guiding 9th graders into their new roles in the High School.

Most pairs are one-on-one. Some meet with mentors in pairs of two, but triple mentees are an anomaly. Vizelman’s group is one of only four triple mentee groups this year.

“It’s nice because you get more group talk,” Griffin Moore said. “You get more experiences to feed off of.”

These “experiences” he mentioned make up the general conversation that occurs during these meetings. Mentors often share their personal stories of 9th grade and mentees get to respond with their current experiences. Being in a group of three 9th graders allows for more experiences and relatedness with your group. Mentees have more room to talk about their days and have the added support of knowing that their peers are often experiencing the same confusions or struggles.

Nathan Moore agrees but also suggests that single mentees get a different experience.

“You do lose the one-on-one element, and that can be hard,” he said.

Getting your voice heard is inevitable in a one-on-one mentorship, but it can become difficult when you have to share the space.

“It’s important to me that they all have a chance to talk,” Vizelman said. “No one person should be dominating and no one should be getting drowned out.”