First Lady Laura Bush told a room of educators Thursday that pairing young people with positive role models is one of the best ways to give those children a chance at a good life.

WWL-TV / File Photo

First Lady Laura Bush.

Bush said children of incarcerated parents, and those from impoverished communities and broken homes are often at risk of becoming adults who themselves become incarcerated, addicted to drugs or crime victims.

At-risk children, and children whose lives have been uprooted because of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina two years ago, "need the permanence and encouragement of a mentor," Mrs. Bush said.

Roughly half of the 77 students at Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School in New Orleans, which the first lady visited Thursday, have been paired with mentors from the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. The mentors help students with homework, take them on outings, play games with them, and sometimes just talk.

"We share our culture with each other. We share our lives," said Big Sister Bridget Falcon, who has served as a mentor for 9-year-old Mariah Warren -- a fourth-grader at Good Shepherd -- for the past year and a half.

"I learn something new from her every time we're together," Falcon said. She was presented with a "President's Call to Service" pin during a private ceremony with the first lady on Thursday.

Since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast two years ago, flooding roughly 80 percent of New Orleans and uprooting families, mentors have been an invaluable resource to young people, including many students at Good Shepherd, said Karen Ranatza, the school's principal.

"Mentors have helped provide our children with some stability and helped them reconnect with the community, letting them know that someone is there for them," Ranatza said.

One student, 13-year-old Taylor McIntyre, told Mrs. Bush about a fishing trip he took with his Big Brother Travis Douget, a Captain with the Louisiana National Guard.

Mrs. Bush said the federal government has made available grants and vouchers to boost programs that offer mentor services like those offered through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

On Friday, the first lady planned to visit another New Orleans school -- Benjamin Banneker Elementary -- before heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where she will address a group of educators at the University of Southern Mississippi in Ocean Springs.

At Benjamin Banneker on Friday, Mrs. Bush is slated to make an announcement regarding grants through her Laura Bush Foundation. She is scheduled to head to Mississippi in the early afternoon to participate in a marine biology classroom activity with school children and deliver remarks at a USM designation ceremony.

The first lady has been to the Gulf Coast more than a dozen times since Katrina struck two years ago. This is her 11th trip to New Orleans since the storm. She was last in the city two months ago with President Bush for the second anniversary of Katrina on Aug. 29.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)