Mentoring

Left: me helping my mentee, Lisa, with her mortarboard, June 2010.

This week mentoring was a big part of my life. I have many mentees, some still in high school, some in college, and some who have graduated college. One of my high school mentees is making his own decisions right now and they don't really have to do with school. He knows I'm here when he's ready to talk about school again. This is the hard part of mentoring -- letting go. . .

Reflecting on failures is a big part of mentoring: what did you learn from your failure? what decisions led to your failure? how will you do things differently next time, and will you do things differently?

One of my college mentees texted me this week asking for motivation. She's almost done with the quarter. So I called and talked with her about remembering the ultimate goal, which is to graduate college. And also how good it feels when you get a task done and how it's just like a monkey on your back when you're procrastinating.

I had lunch with another college mentee today. Listened, asked questions, dispensed a little advice, caught up on each other's lives. Tomorrow I will have lunch with another college mentee.

In CLASS, the freshmen and sophies continued to work on their personal statements. We are beginning to delve down into major events in their lives, so it's starting to get a little emotional. I love these writing assignments because I always learn so much about my students.

The Juniors talked about how to stay motivated at this time of the year. I reminded them that this time next year they will be graduating! I put the picture in their minds of them in their caps and gowns, walking across the stage at the Tacoma Dome. They all just started grinning and one of them said, "Yes!" It was so precious.

The seniors did a comparison analysis of 3 local banks or credit unions. It was useful, though not very exciting.

Tomorrow I will go to one of our Hilltop Scholars' college graduation. I am so looking forward to that!

Be the Spark Event

Friday night we went to the Be the Spark Event at the Tacoma Dome. We got to see two amazing speakers along with some wonderful dancing and singing. The students and staff came away inspired. So now what? What do we do with our inspiration?

This week I am asking the students what they are inspired to do, so stay tuned for the answer.

After eating Papa John’s pizza, we got these awesome t-shirts!




Alex had had too much Catnip tea (yes, really, catnip). It actually seemed to affect his focus. He walked out of Peace and said “Ooooh, school busses.” That was when I realized it was time to cut him off of the catnip. When I teased him about it, he responded: “Don’t judge!”

The event itself was a blast. I had my former AVID student and current intern, Shawn on my right, and newer Hilltop Scholar, Asia, on my left.

Here are my notes from the two major speakers at the event:

Craig Kielburger, Founder of Free the Children
Craig stopped reading the newspaper because the headlines always had so much violence and human suffering. He talked to Desmond Tutu about this, and Tutu told him the headlines are God’s “To Do List.” We should see the headlines as a calling, not a negative.
Craig was first inspired when he was 12 and read the story of a Pakistani boy who had been sold into slavery, escaped, and spoke against child slavery around the world. He said “Every child has the right to hold a pencil, not a tool.” He was killed at age 12.
Craig was so upset by this story that he spoke in front of his class and asked them to help him. 11 friends said they would help him. They began the first chapter of Free the Children. That was in 1995. There are now 4000 chapters world-wide.
He talked about ways we can help:
• Participate in the November 20 Day of Silence
• Make sure we buy products that are not made in sweatshops
• Adopt a village.
MINGA: Craig told a story about working in a Mexican village and there weren’t enough workers to get the school built in the time allotted. The village chief called a “minga.” People came from all over the area, some walking 5 hours to get there. When someone calls a minga, you just go. It’s a coming-together for the common good.
The chief asked how you would say “minga” in English. The English-speaking workers finally said, “it’s like a riot, but for good!”

Desmond Tutu
Old people (he called them “Oldies”) are repetitive, they tell the same stories over and over.
God is omnipotent. He created everything without our help. This omnipotent God wanted the help of a human partner.
Moses and God talked and God persuaded Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt and the Exodus occurred. Moses did this even though it endangered his life.
The Angel, Gabriel, talked to Mary and asked her to carry the son of God in her womb. She said, “I’m a decent girl, ask next door.” But she was finally convinced. God needed her help to bring Jesus into this world.
God waited. The omnipotent became impotent. He waited for a human partner.
In February 1990, Nelson Mandela was let out of prison. In 1994, South African Blacks voted for the first time.
Everyone in the anti-apartheid movement collaborated with God t make freedom happen. It has always been that way. We have to provide the fish and bread so God can feed the hungry.
It’s not spectacular things that we have to do. Sometimes it’s just sitting on the bus and refusing to move.
We spend trillions on instruments of violence and destruction. We could use that money to provide clean water, food, housing, and health care around the world. God says, “When are they going to get it? 1.5 billion of my children go to bed hungry! 6 million killed because of discrimination.” God looks on and sees disease, poverty, war, corruption.
What did God feel about Bin Ladin being shot in front of his children? And of people celebrating at his death?
But then God looks at Tacoma and sees the sparks and starts to smile like the sunshine through the rain. He says “That’s exactly why I created them.” (He did a little dance here.) God smiles and says, “Thank you, Tacoma.”

Diamond and her KidREACH kid.
Vince and his lovely mom.

Diamond is ready for the show!

Personal Statements

Sometimes we have to step up even more and work intensely with a student to help them get through a rough patch. It feels to me like bringing a fledgling bird back into the nest for some TLC and a chance to regroup so she can learn to fly again. Sometimes that can be done quickly, but often it takes a while. But once she takes off and flies again, it is a joyful moment.

Last week I helped get some food to a student's home; helped find an in-class math tutor for another; wrote a letter of recommendation; participated in a Hilltop Scholars information night; a volunteer celebration; taught the Palmer Scholars about time management, organization, and note taking; recruited 8th-graders at Jason Lee; and with my students I listened and listened and listened.

To catch us up on CLASS since last Tuesday:

The freshmen and sophomores are working on the beginning parts of writing a personal statement. I used a website from UC Berkeley to help guide us in the writing. The students started by writing answers to questions like:
What is special about me?
What kind of person am I?
What do I care about?
What’s it like growing up in (fill in the blank)
What’s it like going to school at (fill in the blank)

I then sat with each student and asked them to think about their answers and which ones they think they answered differently or uniquely from other students. Their answer gave us the lense through which they answered the next questions:
An achievement that made me feel terrific. . .
Something I have struggled to overcome or change about myself of my life. . .
A family experience that influenced me in some powerful way. . .
A time I blew it, failed,made bad choices, and how I got past it. . .

This is where the students left off today. I don’t think we will get back to our writing until next Monday because we will be discussing Desmond Tutu on Wednesday in preparation for our hearing him speak on Friday.

Daniel worked with the seniors last Thursday on budgeting. He said they were amazed at how quickly they spent their hypothetical money. Glad it's just play money for now! Tim is still working with the juniors on prepping for the ACT. We got them signed up for the ACT last Thursday. They will take the ACT on June 11.

I have spent a lot of time lately doing things other than preparing for CLASS. We are busily trying to recruit new students to Hilltop Scholars. We would like to have at least 15 to 20 students per grade. They will have to make a higher level of commitment to the program as far as time and hard work. It's a tough sell.

The Seniors and I have been studying financial management. Most of them have the goal of being financially secure. They also recognize that they spend too much money and don’t save their money. Some of them have learned good money habits from their parents and some have learned bad money habits. Alex is the frugal one. He figured out that he can save money by buying tea in bulk and making his own rather than buying tea at the shop every day.

Nick said he wastes money on gas and on text books (lost text books, that is.) Another student gives her money to her friends. She recognizes that this is a problem.

We figured out how much money we spend on gas, giving money to friends, clothes, shoes – over 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. The kids were pretty astounded.

We also talked about interest and how much you can earn by investing a certain amount of money each month over time.

Yesterday the freshmen and sophomores finished off Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. We learned about poise and confidence. The kids also did some reflective writing on what part of the pyramid they feel they do well and what part they need to focus on. I have not yet had a chance to look at so I will have to get back to you on what they said.

The Juniors are working with Tim preparing for the ACT. We need to get them registered for the ACT this week.

Last Friday the Peace staff went to Dorky's which is an arcade with older video and pinball games. I am not that great at these games, but AmeriCorps volunteer Ryan was beating everyone at Mortal Kombat. He was so funny because after he would beat some one he'd say, "Who wants to fight me now?" It was just so out of place -- I never thought I'd hear those words come out of Ryan's mouth. Then, our Executive Director, Bill got the highest score on Miss Pacman, beating the top score of the day. He got free ice cream for his trouble.