Mentor Coordinator Report
Stories & Quotes To Share:
“It’s so good to see you…..Oh My!”
A senior age mentor was excited to meet his student for the first time this year. We were talking in the hallway when the mentee came around the corner and saw his mentor. The student yelled and ran up to his mentor. The mentor turned and was halfway through the quote above before the student, a large football player, engulfed him in a tackle/hug. After almost crashing, the two were all smiles as they went for a walk around the school fields.
(No mentors were harmed in the making of this story.)
One more hug please!
An 8th grade mentee had a wonderful first meeting with her mentor this year. They enjoyed coloring and talking together. The mentee had a rough summer and had talked about how excited she was to meet her mentor. After the meeting, the mentor was leaving, the mentee asked for one more hug before she left. They shared a hug and can’t wait till next week.
Highlights:
After missing the first two weeks of the school year, jumping into the new coordinator position was an avalanche of new people, paperwork and introductions. I was slow to adjust to the new position. However, thanks to my colleagues, trainings and generous amounts of coffee, I am proud to say that the Lynden Middle School program is up and running. After three weeks on the job, I have helped lead two mentor orientations, doubled the number of students on my waitlist and established schedules for all the returning matches at the middle school.
• 19 matches returned from last year
• 4 students on the wait-list
• 8 new students and 3 new mentors in processing
Upcoming:
Goals
The month of October is going to be dedicated to establishing a bigger pool of students, increasing the presence of the program and expanding the mentor pool . My first focus will be educating more students about BTO and having a bigger presence at LMS. I am going to be visiting health classes, hanging posters and designing bulletin boards to hopefully increase visibility and build interest in the program. Next, I want to expand the mentor pool by reaching out to different groups and establishing new connections in the community. Currently, I am in need of Spanish speaking mentors for students in my waitlist, so I hope to find a few with the help of the school staff.
Number of Current Matches: 19
Submitted by Sammuel Van Kirk – VankirkS@lynden.wednet.edu