Mentees' Thoughts Summarized by SMILES Facilitator Kristen Gunderson

This past Thursday, February 26th I sat with the 13 mentees in the Kuss Middle School 7th grade program to gather their thoughts on SMILES and their mentors. Below is a summary of their thoughts and feelings on what is going well and things they would like to see changed for the better!

The 7th graders at Kuss mentioned that this year they really enjoyed the fitness/healthy eating celebration, where they made granola and went through some circuit training with SMILES Mentor Sue Dias-Cordeiro. They also enjoyed the field trip to the ATMC (Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center) where they found out about cool inventions and met with the UMASS college interns who worked at the facility. They also really enjoy the one-to-one time they spend alone with their mentor, which is then followed up by the group activities. They enjoy more hands on activities and want more projects of things they can make and then take home.

The mentees mentioned they did not enjoy the luminary activity (SMILES in the Sky) and they don’t like making contests out of everything because they feel that everyone should be a winner.

The program has thus far met their expectations and they have not been disappointed in the year so far. It is running the way Mrs. Jodoin, their school adjustment counselor and their SMILES facilitator, Katje, had explained it would.

As of now, all of the matches (save for two who are brand new) are comfortable with their mentors. This comfort level is a direct result of their mentor’s personalities, their willingness to share information about themselves in a get-to-know-me way. By the third and fourth meeting, everyone agreed that they had reached a good comfort level with their mentor.

Everyone feels as though their mentors listen to them 100% and that their feedback and advice on topics such as sports, school, drugs/alcohol, manners and career paths has been very helpful to them. These mentees get excited when they see their mentor and most of them would like to see their mentors for an additional 15 minutes during their time together. A few went as far to say that they would like to continue seeing their mentor on weekends and over vacation.

In the event that a mentee just doesn’t want to talk to their mentor that day, the mentees said that sometimes they’re just tired, don’t feel well or they’ve had a bad day in general and don’t want to do any more talking. Despite not wanting to talk, they are happy to be in their mentor's company.

Mentees have said that the best part about having a mentor is that they have someone to talk to at the end of the day who is always there, gives good feedback, listens carefully and makes you feel like you’re important and what you have to say is important.

These conversations have ultimately made the mentees feel more confident, have significantly boosted their self esteem, has helped them do better in school (both behaviorally and academically), helped them expand if not change their future goals all together, and feel good about themselves overall.

As a result of their relationship with an adult, these mentees have said they now view adults as being their equals; just because they’ve been on the earth longer than they have, they are still people. Once they thought all adults were boring and were only around to tell you what to do, they now realize that adults can be fun and interesting. One mentee said he now realizes that SMILES put in a lot of time and effort into picking out people that would be “just right” for them, not just some “drug dealin’ pill popper from off the streets”. They’ve learned not to “judge books by their covers” and said that they could walk into a room full of adults and be totally comfortable.

Mentees have said that since they’ve been in SMILES, they’ve now found it easier to speak to people (peers and adults), they’ve improved their grades, and they look at things in a more positive way.

The one thing this group would love to see SMILES do is have a talent show at the end of the year - including their mentors and their talents! They would also like to know more questions about their mentor’s childhood, their life when they were preteens.


~Respectfully submitted by SMILES Facilitator Kristen Gunderson

The little girl inside...

The entry below was written by a guest blogger, Elizett Pires, who works for SMILES Mentoring as an AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring. As you continue on to read this entry you'll discover how lucky we are to have Elizett on our team!

The little girl inside...
Elizett Pires
2/3/10
SMILES Mentoring

It’s amazing how fast time goes when you’re doing something you truly enjoy. Six months of my service year is complete and I still have so much to do. I may have to face road blocks such as lack of funds, time, man power or other issues, but I choose to persevere and continue with my mission each day. My motivation comes from the little girl within me. She grew up in the same neighborhood as most of our SMILES mentees. She went to some of the same schools that SMILES programs are in. She moved to New Bedford from Cape Verde when she was about three-years-old with three older sisters and her mother, who by the way had never worked a day in her life. It wasn’t until they came to the US that her mother got a job. Her mother slaved away in a fish factory for sometimes what were 14/15 hour days, leaving her eldest sister who was only 10 at the time to take care of the younger children after school. Her mother would still manage to come home each day to make them dinner and braid their hair for school the next day. After that she still had another task, night school to learn English. That was their life, the only life they really knew back then since the little girl’s father was always working at sea. You may read this and think that her mom was an unfit parent but to this little girl she was and always will be the glue that keeps their family together. In those days she was fortunate enough to have a few people in her life that really helped her to mature and flourish. They were a next door neighbor who was like a second grandmother to her, a church member who pushed and challenged her both emotionally and spiritually and an academic who showed her the opportunities that were available to her if she worked hard enough for them. The little girl was fortunate enough to have three amazing mentors throughout her childhood. So, it is that little girl that I hear and see in so many of the young mentees in SMILES. That little girl and SMILES mentees may not all have the same story but they have one thing in common, they are or were once considered at-risk youth in the South Coast community. I am that little girl and I don’t think I would be the person I am today without their influences. In some ways I think I am luckier than other Highland Street Corps members because I have the privilege to serve in my own community. I have been given the opportunity to place amazing individuals with great hearts and intentions into the lives of youth who truly need another positive influence and role model.I’ve shared my story but you must be wondering, “How exactly are you making a difference?”Well at SMILES I serve two major functions with one important mission, capacity building. My first function is recruitment efforts. This includes processing new mentors, going out into the community and presenting about SMILES, creating new marketing tools or creating new strategies for getting SMILES’ name out there.Some projects that I have especially enjoyed have been going into the local universities and presenting to college students about SMILES. It’s so nice to see 18-22 year olds who care about those that come after them and truly wanting to make a difference. As someone who recently graduated from college I know how hard it is to balance school, student life, and jobs alone; never mind adding in a huge commitment such as mentoring. I’ve also been able to and will continue to work on creating video PSA’s and recruitment videos for SMILES. It is such a time consuming task but the end result is truly amazing. In the videos we hope to capture the true essence of what mentoring is. They will include feedback from mentees, school teachers/counselors, staff and mentors who have powerful stories to share.In terms of recruitment, things are going great. I’ve been able to match 100 mentors since I began my service year in August and have received almost 400 inquiries. This is truly amazing and I’m so happy to be working on such a critical part of what SMILES does.My second major function at SMILES is match support. In my opinion this is the area that needs the most attention so I am always trying to find new ways to reach out to current mentors. I’ve called many mentors to talk about what is going on, I’ve created a newsletter and a wall of fame for them, and I’ve also helped with planning events for them.The match support effort that I am most proud of so far is the Monthly Mentor Magazine I created because it is a simple way of reaching out to just about all of our mentors. The magazine includes tips for successful mentoring relationships, answers to tough questions, it highlights matches and more.As you can see I have been busy but I’ve enjoyed it and expect to get busier as the year progresses. I am an AmeriCorps member and I will get things done!

Follow up from the Statehouse in the Standard Times - Match speaks their mind!

Click here to read the article: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100205/OPINION/2050331

SMILES Match shares their story

This video was shot and produced by SMILES Americorps Ambassador of Mentoring, Elizett Pires. It's a great insight into a really strong SMILES relationship.

SMILES attends Youth Mentoring Day at the Statehouse

Thursday, January 21st 2010 was a fantastic day for SMILES Mentoring! We were graced with the opportunity to visit the Massachusetts Statehouse with 12 mentor/mentee matches. We were given the opportunity to meet with over a half dozen of our area law makers and have our voices heard. Representative Aguiar, Representative Canessa, Representative Haddad, Representative Rodrigues, Representative Sullivan, State Senator Menard and State Senator Montigny were all gracious enough to open their office doors and personally listen to SMILES mentors, mentees and staff speak about the power of mentoring and what they can do to help the program grow.

We were able to tour the grandious Statehouse and learned fun facts, like that fact that the golden dome of the Statehouse is covered in 23 karat gold flakes thinner than paper!

SMILES mentees urged the legislators to find more funding for programs like SMILES and other afterschool/extracurricular activities, since they're seeing many of their friends getting into trouble on the streets.

Our voices were loud and unified along with many other programs that day at the Statehouse. Check out our pictures below!

David Shapiro, Executive Director of the Mass Mentoring Partnership addressing the crowd.Group of SMILES matches with Rep. Haddad, Rep. Aguiar, Rep. Sullivan and Rep RodriguesSMILES matches looking very official in the Senate Chambers - thanks Senator Menard for the inside peek!