Durham Company Takes Part In Mentoring Program

Garry Kusilka, a software engineer at Intelligent Information Systems (IIS), often dedicates some of his time to mentoring kids through his job. The kids and the company are celebrating their success as part of the Adopt-A-School program.

"To see you're making a difference, no matter how small, sometimes it may not seem like a lot, but I think that's what all of us get out of it," he says. "It is just making some kind of difference in their lives."

Thirty-eight percent of the company's employees tutor the students an hour each week on company time. Sucheta Jain, IIS co-founder, wants the children to get the same message she received as a youngster about being important.

"The rest they can do themselves; the math, the reading. Everything else they can do on their own as long as they feel that they are important and their success is important," she says.

Tutors and students are close. They know a lot about each other and depend on each other.

"IIS tutors can be depended on. They're here every week at the school working with the students so the students each student gets a tutor twice a week," says Jeanne Bishop, principal at Parkwood Elementary School.

After a kid-produced thank-you video, each student receives a certificate of achievement from their tutors. IIS joins a growing number of businesses in the Triangle and across the country donating company time to help schools in their neighborhoods.