With his easy manner, quick smile, and high energy, it’s easy to see why Guilford Youth Mentoring (GYM) paired Jake Israel with a high school boy last year.

“At the end of the day, I’m just a kid anyway,” Israel admitted. “We get in that room and he’s dying laughing and then I’m dying laughing. I feel like I just left high school 10 years ago!”

Although his own children are young (a daughter, 8, and a son 2), Israel discovered that he has a knack for connecting with teenagers and loves the time they spend together.

“Almost any mentor will tell you—and now I’m the mentor saying it—that mentoring is as rewarding for us as it is for the kids. I find myself really enjoying that hour of decompressing every week,” Israel said.

Israel grew up on his grandparents’ 60 acre farm in Kansas until his parents divorced. At 12, he was relocated from his rural home to his mother and stepfather’s new home in West Haven. He admits that he didn’t fit in for a while. He finished high school in Branford, got a business degree from Southern Connecticut State University, and a few years later, met his wife.

He was out with his parents early on New Year’s Eve when his dad said that Israel had to meet their favorite waitress. His dad called her over, asked if she was married or dating anybody and then proceeded to introduce her: “You’ve gotta meet my son!”

Israel cracks up remembering this moment.

“I met my wife in a restaurant and my dad introduced her to me. What a loser I was!” he said. “But, I asked her out anyway.”

While he started out in copier sales, Israel has spent most of his career as a recruiter, both with companies and on his own. When his daughter came along, he took a job with Oracle so he could work from home and get her on and off the bus. In the last year, Israel himself got recruited to Cognizant, where he manages an executive recruiting team. So far, he is loving his new position.

Outside the office, Israel travels with his family quite a bit. They often join three or four other families and visit Mexico, Block Island, and Lake Ontario in the summer and Vermont in the winter. Jake is also active in St. George’s Church and with the Madison Jaycees, where he is a board member and director of the Madison Triathlon. He is currently vice president and will take over as president next year. He loves being part of the Madison Jaycees and the work it does...maybe a little too much.

“Literally, I’ll leave for a meeting and my wife will say, ‘Do not volunteer for anything else!’”

Israel first heard about GYM from his wife, Nikki, a 2nd grade teacher at Calvin Leete. She told him how mentoring worked in her classroom and told him he would love it. He agreed and said he’d look into it. He said that every year for about 10 years. Then his neighbor, Carmen Ciardello was talking with Nikki and told Israel he could call him if he wanted to be a mentor. So he did.

“It’s one of those things I just put off. I wanted to do it, but you’ve just got to take that first step and then you’re hooked.”

To take that first step to become a mentor or to help support the program, call Guilford Youth Mentoring at 203-453-2741 ext 269, email solomonb@guilfordschools.org, or visit www.guilfordmentoring.org.