Stories to share: Cards and messages from our November “Thank a Mentor” project
“Ms. Reynolds—Thank you for recommending the Be the One Mentoring program to me. It really changed my life.”—LHS student who is in her 3rd year with her mentor.
“Thank you for being here with me every week. I really appreciate you taking time off to talk with me and make me laugh. Your encouragement is the best. Thank you for always reminding me of my worth.”— LHS senior student who has been with her mentor for 3 years. The mentor’s response: “Thank you so much for sending this to me. Such an encouragement!”
“Thank you for being a mentor not only to me, but many other kids from school and church. I look up to you for your kindness to everyone and your ability to laugh. I’m so happy you are in my life.” LHS student The mentor’s response: “Wow, that really means a lot! I’m glad you shared it with me.”
Mentoring Update:
- 50 active matches!
- New Mentors: We had 3 Lynden folks attend New Mentor Orientation on December 11th. We had Nooksack New Mentors attend as well. Jim at Nooksack also trained a mentor for me who is being matched with an LHS student. Upcoming New Mentor Orientations will be hosted on Tuesday, Jan 14th from 10:00 am -noon and Thursday, Feb 13th from 9:00am-11:00am at Lynden High School.
- Mentor Equippings: 2 more sessions this school year
- February 3/4 Understanding the Culture of Poverty (Whatcom Dream presenting)
- March 2/3 TBA
- Offering Youth Mental Health First Aid Classes: March 14, May 2. Co-teaching with Brian. Registration for Dec. 7th was not enough to offer the course, so we had to cancel.
- Enjoying working with our colleagues at other schools. We meet each month to support each other and share ideas.
- Continuing to work on Policies and Procedures Manual (goal to finish this school year). This is the final project to complete for our National Mentoring Standards Dedicated Partner status.
Other Activities
- November was National “Thank your Mentor” Month: At LHS we put up a bulletin board about taking the time to thank caring adults and the leadership class helped make a video. During lunch time, students had the opportunity to write thank you cards and display them on the bulletin board or give them directly to the person. I collected over 150 cards to 75 different individuals. All were distributed or mailed the week after Thanksgiving.
- After School IMPROV on Tuesdays is going well. Averaging about 12 students, many freshmen and sophomores. Most of the students do not participate in sports or other extra-curricular activities. I’m thankful that the district has the activity bus to cover their transportation needs, and we are all thankful for Suzzi Snydar donating snacks each week!
- Saturday School : Upcoming session on January 11th, right before finals and the end of the semester. We expect high attendance for this reason.
- E-Sports Club on Thursdays. Four BTO mentors have been showing up each week to hang out and play games with the students as well as donate snacks. Thank you so much!