Stories to share:
A handful of mentors are regularly sending emails to their student mentee with no responses back. These mentors know that their mentee reads them, so they continue to send out weekly or bi-weekly messages. There was a higher volume of email activity from our mentees during the first week after winter break. My theory is that winter break gave the students a much-needed break from their screens. All their schoolwork is online and their lectures are over Zoom. Students said statements such as, “sorry I haven’t responded in a while” or “I haven’t had much energy…” By the second week after break, email correspondence have resumed to a one-way conversation. I am curious to see how the hybrid model in February affects these email correspondences!
All the BTO Coordinators hosted a Student Panel via Zoom. Afterwards, Ferndale’s student representative was worried that she did not do a good job (which is crazy!), but her mentor reassured her. Now she thinks she did well! This situation exemplifies of how BTO mentors help students see themselves positively!
Quote from the Ferndale Student Representative in our Student Panel:
“I am so honored that you chose me to represent Ferndale High School. I hope mine and the other students’ answers were able to help mentors see how the mentees are going through COVID and how BTO is helping them do that.”
FHS Reopening Information:
- Second Semester starts February 1st. Students whose families selected the Hybrid Model, participate onsite with in-person instruction two days a week and distance learning three days a week. Students whose families selected ongoing remote learning continue to participate in distance learning. https://www.ferndalesd.org/reopening-plan/learning-model-status
- Regular scheduled day: 7:40am-2:16pm
- AA/BB Hybrid Schedule:
- AA – Monday and Tuesday for In-person Learning
- Last names A-Le
- BB – Thursday and Friday for In-person Learning
- Last names Li-Z
- AA – Monday and Tuesday for In-person Learning
TextBridge – Secure Texting for Mentors and Students
- Piloting program for up to 5 students and their mentor
- No contact info is exchanged
- Texting between the hours of 7am-8pm
- All messages are logged in a database
- 5 matches are currently using this tool at FHS (up from 3 matches last month)
Meeting in Person Status: Still in Planning
- Many students are returning to campus 2 days a week. In February, Mentor Coordinator will inquire when/if BTO adult volunteers can return to campus. Until then, Zoom and Email will remain the options for Mentor-Mentee communication.
- Off-Campus, In-person meetings proposal was approved on Tuesday October 27th. Due to the new restrictions, in-person meetings can only take place outdoors in a public location. Qualifying mentors/students opted to wait until indoor meetings resume.
Program Development
- No new matches at FHS in January. Will begin new matches when students are on campus and volunteers are allowed in the building.
- Held New Mentor Orientation via Zoom, 1 person attended and interested in being a Mentor at FHS
- Student Panel – January 13th 2:00pm
- Three students from Ferndale HS, Nooksack Valley HS and Lynden HS shared about their experiences with remote learning & mentorship
- Helping to launch online portal
- Presented to Sunrise Rotary with Community Engagement Team Leader, Scott Locker
- Mentor Coordinators are checking in with each other and collaborating on a regular basis.