On Tuesday, June 7, mentors and mentees gathered at the Yesler Community Center to celebrate the conclusion of 20 weekly 90-minute meetings ... a graduation of sorts.
National CARES Mentoring Movement Founder and CEO, Susan L. Taylor joined the group from New York via an amplified phone.
The meeting room was full with 12 to 16 year-old mentees, adult mentors, friends, and family.
Hazel Cameron, The 4C Executive Director, opened the meeting by thanking "all the wonderful mentors who have been with them week by week, year-by-year, giving of themselves."
The 4C Group Mentoring program follows a curriculum that
blends history, social studies, civic education, and economics.
Don and Hazel Cameron summarized five months of classroom work.
They explained how the Group Mentoring curriculum blends history, social studies, civic education, and economics. They mentioned two topics that received special attention ... "Making the Right Decisions" and Life on Social Media."
Ms. Taylor led a discussion, and asked both mentees and mentors what they got out of the program.
Here are some of the remarks from mentees:
- "I would say that I learned how to deal with authority, how you have to approach authority humbly whether in a uniform or not, it's not about how they represent themselves it's about how you represent yourself."
- "We spend mindlessly. We spend on things that have no value. We want to invest our money and grow in value."
- "Our image has to do with how other people see us rather than how we feel about ourselves."
- "We talked about how you need to be mindful about what you put out there in media ... you need to know that employees look at your Facebook posts and stuff."
- "High school athletes are told to be very careful of what they put out there in social media because coaches. College coaches are looking at these postings."
- "I learned that I need to stop and think and make better decisions. It helps me think before I do something now ... as I think about the consequences."
- "I learned that listening in silence isn't a luxury it's a necessity... I talk a lot and sometimes I need to shut up."
- "I am really grateful for this program I've tried other programs in my life but this is the only one that really stuck."
