Mentor Stories
« Previous EntriesOregonian Story: Xploregon helps youths discover another side of Oregon — and themselves
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, July 21st, 2008
Research shows that summer is a time when kids can really benefit from programs and activities that keep them engaged in learning and out of trouble. Last week we described some of the fun things available to kids in the David Douglas/IRCO Mentoring summer program.
For a look at another kind of mentoring program, this one for teens, check out this story in today’s Oregonian about the summer outings sponsored by Campfire USA’s Xploregon. The adventures “are a series of summer service-learning road trips for high school youth that combines the best aspects of a road-trip adventure, provides teens with volunteer experience, leadership development and opportunities to connect with peers in communities across Oregon.”
Whether kids are getting to know their city or their state, programs like these are helping kids see the world beyond their usual perspective, and, research shows, helping them stay in school when the summer is over.
For more information about the value of establishing and maintaining mentoring relationships during the summer, check out the Mentoring Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Education.
Are you participating in a summer mentoring program or experience? Share what you are doing - share your stories.
Topics: Mentor Stories, Resources for Mentor | No Comments »
Summer Fun for Mentoring Pairs
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Friday, July 18th, 2008
What’s the perfect way to spend a sunny summer day? A trip to OMSI might be nice; or a day at the pool. How about a day at the rock gym, the zoo, or maybe fishing at Blue
How can you choose when there are so many wonderful opportunities? The kids in the David Douglas Mentoring Project with IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization) don’t have to.
Every week throughout the summer, kids who are part of this one-on-one after-school mentoring program (and many of their mentors as well) get the chance to leave their familiar school and neighborhood and take a field trip.
For many of these kids, some new to Portland, some new to United States, many with limited opportunities to experience all that our city has to offer, these trips open a door to a wider world. And, they are just plain fun – for everyone.
Giving kids a chance to see the world beyond the familiar and known is a primary goal for the mentors who work with these kids. As I talked with pairs of mentors and mentees - over a wonderful lunch (provided for everyone) on a patio, overlooking the Willamette, at OMSI, this theme was repeated again and again. Mentors work with kids to introduce new ideas, new possibilities, and new visions for what their mentees can become. And to experience the opportunity to make a difference – in their own lives as well as the lives of the kids they work with.
Seng and Salim talk about so many things, including college and how Salim, who is “very smart” and speaks five languages, can get there. This pair shares many interests and characteristics, as well as the natural understanding that comes with their shared immigrant experience.
Seng, who was born in
Julie and William are another wonderful pair. William was especially happy on this day because he loves science, and especially OMSI. Julie is an educational assistant at the school where William will go next year. This is an added benefit – having a built-in friend at this new school will ease the transition and help him feel welcome.
Julie, whose own kids are growing up, is as enthusiastic as William when they describe the interesting science experiments Julie comes up with for their after school time.
There were many more pairs on this lovely day – sharing time, sharing fun, and sharing birthday cupcakes in celebration of Jaime’s big day. I want to thank you all of you for sharing your stories with me, so that I can share them on this blog.
DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR STORY? Share yours.
Topics: Mentor Stories | 1 Comment »
One Mentor’s Tale
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Why I am a Mentor
I met Efrain Vargas yesterday. Efrain is a mentor to a young teen boy. He is 20 years old, engaging and articulate. A soccer scholarship got him to college, where he is now majoring in Psychology. He hopes to become counselor and focus on gangs. Going to college changed Efrain’s life in many ways, but most important he says, it showed him a world beyond his neighborhood in California … and got him away from the gang that was too much a part of his life. When I asked Efraim why he is a mentor, he gave me this essay he has written and told me I could share it here on the blog.
“What is the reason for being a gangster? So we can defend our city, the street where we live, but the city isn’t ours, the street doesn’t belong to us either. Why am I a gang member? Because my parents didn’t have time for me. No, those are just excuses of somebody that is weak and doesn’t know what they want, so they take the easy way out. Eternal days of suffering and having to worry about making it alive by the end of the day. No, I didn’t want that for me. I was one of those lucky young puppets who made it out and was given a second chance to change the world with all those horrible things I saw and did. I am here to make a difference in the lives of all these teen chicanos who did my mistake. It’s my obligation to try and lead them to the right path.” Efraim Vargas
Topics: Mentor Stories | 1 Comment »
Share your success stories: We Need Inspriring Stories to Start the Year Off Right
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, July 7th, 2008
Mentors, volunteers and teachers, we want to hear your stories. Take a moment to tell us a story about how you were able to successfully build a strong relationship with a kid. What was the kid like when you met? What did you do to build a relationship? How did you see the kid change?
Also, tell us stories of how a connection with a teacher, friend or community member made a positive difference in your life, or in the life of someone you know. We hope to collect these stories and add them to the course on this site.
Thanks in advance for sharing these with us.
Topics: BACK TO SCHOOL, Questions, Mentor Stories | No Comments »
Smart Money: A Mentor Story about How a Smart Volunteer Invests In Kids
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
Deborah Romerein is a volunteer who teaches what she knows. And she is making a difference. For more than five years, Deborah, a former stockbroker and financial consultant has had a goal – to share her knowledge about how to survive and even flourish financially in today’s confusing culture where “debt is the most aggressively marketed product.”
Deborah designed a course, SMART MONEY, to teach the kids she works with (incarcerated youth) how to avoid the traps of debt, predatory “deals,” and how to develop and cultivate the habits needed to achieve true wealth and financial peace of mind. She also offers participants a road map of how to get started handling money, and teaches them strategies they can use to set and reach personal goals.
Deborah does this because she has “every hope and expectation that the process of learning personal money management skills” will help the young men she works with to discover personal strengths and an “expanded view of how they see themselves and what they can accomplish.”
Deborah is just one example of ‘regular’ people who are doing extraordinary things for kids at risk. She not only volunteers her time and knowledge, but she connects with every kid – encourages them to believe in themselves, and most of all – she encourages them to LEARN – not only about money and finances – but about the world around them, and all that it holds for them. When Deborah comes to volunteer, she brings books, films, ideas, information, and connections to other subjects, and other people. Most of all, she brings herself. Her warmth, her caring and her hope for a better future.
I just thought you’d like to know.
If you’d like to know more, or receive the details of her Smart Money classes contact Deborah at romerein@spiritone.com
Topics: Mentor Stories | No Comments »
Who Mentored YOU?
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Friday, June 27th, 2008
So many of the people I meet, teachers, counselors, mentors, volunteers, scout leaders, great kids with great projects, all are doing wonderful things - not only for the kids in classrooms and programs, but for others as well.
I believe that the ways each of us find to reach out can be as unique as our own skills and interests, and that the acts of reaching out can offer myriad opportunities to enrich our lives as much as they enrich the lives of those we seek to help.
I also believe that the term MENTOR is confusing - but can be made clearer if we define it as helping someone in a meaningful way. Once we understand the definition, it becomes clear that each of us has had a mentor. So this is my question:
WHO MENTORED YOU? Was there someone in your life who did or said something that made a difference in the path you took, in the way you felt about yourself, and in the things you do for others?
I believe each of us has at least one story to tell. I believe that by understanding the many faces that mentoring can take, it will be easier to understand how each of us can make meaningful connections with others - especially kids at risk.
Please share your experiences on this blog. Pass this question along to others. Let’s build a collection of stories that show the many different faces that mentoring can take. Who knows. maybe someone will write about YOU.
Click the COMMENT button below to respond.
Topics: Mentor Stories | No Comments »
The Benefits of Mentoring - from the Mentor’s Point of View
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
I heard a woman talk about her experiences as a SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) last night. Her comments gave me a new perspective on mentoring. She is studying Spanish these days, developing her own language and literacy in a second language. To complete her course requirements she is expected to do a service project in the community.
Because she loves “reading, kids and practicing Spanish,” her choice to become a SMART volunteer at a bilingual school was a natural. The speaker “loves what she is doing” because she has a strong belief in the importance of literacy, in any language. She believes that the love of reading is a key to positive school experiences for every child.
What was fun for me was the chance to hear her talk about all the benefits that SHE is getting from her volunteer work. She is enjoying the opportunity to learn about some of the schools outside of her neighborhood, and see firsthand the work they are doing to make kids feel comfortable and able to learn. She also enjoys the chance to discover new books in Spanish, meet and spend time with kids, and most of all, practice speaking Spanish with native speakers (savvy first graders), who are helping HER build her skills too.
If you are a mentor or volunteer, please share some of the things you get from the experience.
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my motivation
By Kevin Truong | Thursday, April 10th, 2008
*one night in 1981 my mom got in a fishing boat.
it was rickety i’m sure. i imagine the wood was rotting, the paint was flaking, patterns were left as the coating began to peel, and chip, and crack. the swelter of the south east asian heat. by any standards, not a safe vessel. it had a motor, but definitely not anything any rational minded person would feel safe using for a voyage across the south china sea. but, funny thing, when you’ve spent the day hiding in tall grasses, waiting for the night, the dark, about to flee a country–a life, the only life you’ve ever known–rationality tends to be trumped by fear, fear by desperation, and desperation by the only way to make it through it all–hope.
so my mom, with two young daughters and pregnant with me, got in that fishing boat with a couple dozen other refugees and headed out into the water. headed out towards that hope.
* and i’m thinking at that moment, i really didn’t have a care in the world. i was twenty-four years old, about to move to new orleans, spending a couple june weeks on a cadamaran sailing waters off the coast of hawaii, it’s pretty nice to have the luxury of believing you can do anything you want in life. i looked over across the water, and all i could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. “life’s pretty amazing,” i thought.
* but all she could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. a week and a half in a rickety fishing boat, the wood rotting, the paint flaking, patterns being made as the coating continued to peel, and chip, and crack, and all she could see was ocean. terrifying. terriying when you’ve been on that boat for a week in a half. drifting somewhere in the water between vietnam and the philippines, or maylasia. too sick to eat. two young daughters begging for food. not that there was anything to give them. pirates stole all the rice and the motor off the boat. and i’m not talking the friendly, jack sparrow, pirates of the carribbean type of pirates.
*and to be quite honest, i was a little bummed. sitting on the paramount studio back-lot, somewhere between the beaches of malibu and the theatres of sunset blvd, and for some reason i missed that casting call for pirates of the caribbean 3. the guy next to me–both of us extras for the new christopher walken flick–he got casted for it. he got to see keira knightley. and i missed the chance. “man that sucks,” i was thinking, ”that would have been a great opportunity and i missed it.”
*an opportunity. and to be sure, she was beginning to question whether it was all worth the risk. the opportunity to immigrate to america–was it worth it, to be drifting somewhere in the water between vietnam and the philippines, or maylasia, for the better part of two weeks. there had to be doubts. that hope had to have been beginning to peel, and chip, and crack. she looked out. and all she could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. and then land. she could see land and she began to cry.
***
that’s the story of my mother. inter-sliced with stories from my own life. a contrasts in the extreme danger my mother took in immigrating to america, and the luxuries that have been afforded to me because of that risk. i was born not too soon after she fled vietnam, after she got in that rickety fishing boat. in a refugee camp in malaysia, august 3rd, 1982. lived there for only eight months, before spending a childhood growing up around the mud puddles and fir trees of oregon, and then a young adulthood ‘exploring’ zipcodes outside 97236. and having been fortunate enough to have been raised in this country, for almost my entire life, it’s easy for me to mistake my circumstance as something that just is–something that just happened, not meriting much recognition because it’s just been a given that i really do believe i can accomplish anything i want in life.
but nothing just is. my life–the opportunities i have been given–every door that has been opened for me and every window cracked, are things that have been fought for. it’s all a testament to my mother, a woman who went through so much just to get me to this country, to give me opportunities, to save me from the desperation and fear she felt in a life she once had.
and that’s what motivates me. the conscious acknowledgement of every opportunity that has been given to me, not just by mother, but by everyone in my life who has ever contributed in some way to the person i’ve become. how my life is and how my life could have been, and most importantly, how my life can be. i’ve made a commitment to make good on all the fortunes i’ve been given and do my best to not just to take, but to give as well. because i know that to do otherwise would in many ways be a spit in the face of everyone who’s ever took the effort to love, care, and support me in the hopes of what can be.
if my mom can get in a rickety fishing boat, i can take some risks too. and i will 
Topics: Recommended reading, Mentor Stories | No Comments »
Ways to Involve Parents and Family Members
By Kevin Truong | Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
I feel I am in a unique position as a Site Coordinator for a homework club, in that I am able to work both in the the children’s classrooms and in a setting very close to their homes. In this role, I hopefully am able to help foster that link between the children’s school environment and their home environment, so that their is a continuum of inquiry from their classroom to their living room.
By working with the children and their teachers in the classroom, I am able to learn not only the specific lessons the students are learning, but also areas where individual students could use the most help.
Involving parents is the next step, and ways I can do that are-
-family nights - events where parents and families are invited to participate in an activity with their child. Game nights, potlucks, informational sessions.
-outreach - going out into the communities, to the children’s homes and doing outreach with the parents. Establishing, building on, and maintaining those relationships. It’s important for me to let the families know that I am making an effort to be a part of their community. There is a certain level of trust I’m trying to build. Since many of the families I work with speak English as a second language, my efforts may include passing along a simple note to them written in one of the native languages–Russian, Romanian, Somalian–that says, “Hi, I’m Kevin. I work in the homework club with your children..” As mentioned before, I think it is very important to show that efforts are being made on my part.
Topics: Family Involvement, How to Help, Mentor Stories | No Comments »
Chalkboard Project - Giving away 5 Making Connections scholarships
By Lydia Brooks | Thursday, March 27th, 2008
If you or someone you know would like free access to Making Connections send your story about why mentoring is important to you to The Chalkboard Project, info@chalkboardproject.org
The first 5 people to send in their stories will be given scholarships to Making Connections!
Topics: Mentor Stories, Things to do | No Comments »
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