December is a busy time for your TSIC program staff as we prepare for mid-year reporting due January 4, 2019. As Pasco County Schools offices will be closed from December 21, 2018 through January 7, 2019 for Winter Break, we’ve got our work to do! Scholars will need to turn in their green Mentor Session Log (like the one pictured here) by December 14th. Please remind your scholar and help them complete this task by making sure all sessions are logged and the form is up-to-date. Mentor sessions with our scholars are the heart and soul of the TSIC program and we are required to report on that data. Help us ensure the information we report is accurate. Completing the green form and the online mentor session form (link below) are two methods we use for capturing that data for future audits.
Mentor Coordinator, Gina Granger, will be sending each mentor a snapshot of sessions logged so far this school year. When received, please check for accuracy. If needed, take a few minutes to catch up on logging your mentor sessions using the link below. Let Gina know if you see any discrepancies.
For your convenience, here's the current year's link to the online mentoring session log. It only takes a minute to complete it after each session with your scholar.
As part of the new "Take Stock in College " efforts--a program recently created by Take Stock with the primary goal of tracking, supporting, and ensuring our TSIC alumni complete their post-secondary education--we are beginning our preliminary work on organizing a TSIC Pasco Alumni & Mentor Reunion. No date has been set yet.

If you mentored a student in our program who is currently enrolled in their post-secondary institution and you have remained in contact with him or her since graduating high school, please reply to this email and let us know. Thanks to several mentors who have already replied with this information!
All of us at Take Stock in Children Pasco wish the happiest of birthdays (and many more) to the following mentors with December birthdays:

Pamela Behr
Cory Engle
Randall Fitkin
Brendan Gorman
Anthony Harroun
Alexis Leverock
Elsie Lewis-Storey
Keya Mukherjee
Peg Petersen
Todd Weaver
We are often asked this time of year if it is an appropriate gesture for mentors to present their mentees with a gift at Christmas time. The answer is yes but we suggest that the gift be modest in cost and, if possible, have an educational benefit such as a new book by their favorite author or perhaps supplies they might need for a class or upcoming project.
Attention Mentors of Seniors!
In April 2018, the Pasco Education Foundation awarded 124 scholarships to graduating seniors in all 13 Pasco County High Schools valued at $217,425! Wow! The scholarship application is now LIVE on the Pasco Education Foundation website. NEW THIS YEAR: Scholarships are now available for students interested in pursuing a trade certificate/degree (like police/fire academies, welding programs) or attending technical schools. Click here to visit the scholarship page for more details. Please encourage your senior scholars to apply before the January 31, 2019 deadline.
TSIC needs a mentor who can serve a student at Sunlake High School . If you know of any caring people like yourself that would love the opportunity to give back to a student as a mentor, email our Mentor Coordinator, Gina Granger, at ggranger@pascoeducationfoundation.org or call (813) 794-2134.
By now you should have logged at least 10 mentor sessions with your student (if matched at or near the beginning of the school year). We're sending KUDOS out to these "Super Mentors" who have already logged 11 or more! Way to go!

11 Visits
Melba Hamilton
Carolyn Higgins & Karyn Moses
Paula Lesko
Nikii Lewis
Cheryl Ohls
Peg Petersen
Ellen Rose & Cheryl Vinson
Dick Sanders

12 Visits
Don Anderson
Lauren Beatty & Kayla Conologue
Tara O'Connor
Steven Okun
Alan Witt

13 Visits
Cynthia Metcalf

14 Visits
Elliot Lorenzi
Here's that handy button again to log your mentor sessions. :)
Thanks for being a cheerleader for your mentee, Mentor .