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
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