ATTLEBORO - Last year, Mayor Kevin Dumas and Superintendent Pia Durkin served as mentors to eight Attleboro High School students to provide support and encouragement toward meeting academic and future goals.

Now, the school department is working to expand that initiative through community volunteers who have stepped forward to help students by forming one-on-one relationships for listening, advice and to share ideas.

A total of 12 adult volunteers, including a high school teacher and a member of the school committee, will counsel students this year, Durkin said, in most cases on a one-to-one basis. Adults will help by listening, conversing and in some cases attending student activities.

Both Durkin and the mayor will continue to be a part of the program.

"It's a nice way to get involved with helping a student," said Durkin, who added that adults could help by advising students about the need for good attendance and grades. The aim is also to help students make connections between giving their best effort in school and future prospects for their lives and careers.

Under the program, adults meet individual students during school hours, likely each month, in sessions of 40 minutes to an hour. Beyond school, mentors may also want to attend sporting events or other activities in which their student is involved.

Meetings are scheduled to begin prior to the holidays and continue through June. Adults involved in the program completed an application process that included a criminal records check, Durkin said.

Volunteers in the program represent diverse backgrounds and races, the superintendent said.

"We have a good variety of people," she said.

Volunteers include school committee member Melissa Cook, high school teacher John Newport, members of the Attleboro Human Relations Commission, a retiree and a law enforcement representative.

Durkin, who held an orientation session for volunteers this week at the high school, said the school department is developing the program slowly but that in the future it could be expanded to include larger numbers of students and volunteers.