Match of the Month for August: Lisa Jacques and Heather

For the month of August, we are so pleased to honor Lisa Jacques and her mentee, Heather, for match of the month. On July 12th, this pair celebrated their first anniversary of being matched!

Congratulations!!!

Having benefited from mentors in her own life and seeing our program’s recruitment ad in a Fletcher Allen newsletter, Lisa decided to apply to be a mentor with Spectrum. With two teenage daughters of her own as well as having gone through her own struggles as a young person, Lisa felt uniquely qualified to provide guidance to another young woman.
Heather was working with another Spectrum program when she learned about the mentoring program. She hoped to be matched with someone fun who liked the things that she liked—swimming, movies, bowling and animals. Being a fairly active young person, she was a good match with Lisa.
Since being matched, Lisa and Heather have enjoyed going out to eat together, having their nails done, visiting pet stores, swimming and seeing movies. Heather has even begun taking classes to become a veterinary assistant. She says of Lisa, “we have things in common that we like to do.” Lisa enjoys Heather’s chattiness when they spend time together.

CONGRATULATIONS again on being matched for one year!

2nd Annual Mentoring Beach Party

Sorry it's taken me a couple of days to get this in the blog, but I've been so busy fielding phone calls and emails from mentors telling me how much they enjoyed the beach party on Friday. It's been so great to hear such positive reactions to the event. Alot of the credit should go to both Mark Redmond (Spectrum Ex. Dir.) and to Joan White (Dev. Dir.) for their ideas on how to bring excitement to the event in ways that would appeal to young and old alike. Having the event catered made the night stress-free for those of us putting it on and left us to simply enjoy the time with the mentors and mentees. Sugar Snap provided a wonderful spread of sandwiches and salads which allowed some of the folks there to try some new foods.

The organized games were a lot of fun, too. The water balloon toss was very exciting and a little wet. Congratulations to Brian and Simon on thier win of that event. Sally and Tabby won Spectrum's version of Match Game which was an interesting look into how well our matches know each other. Congratulations to this pair as well.

Thanks to all of you who attended and we missed those who were not able to attend. I'm really looking forward to planning next year's event!

Check Out Mark's Blog on Mentoring

http://spectrumyouthandfamilyservicesblog.blogspot.com/

Read This Great Sunday Editorial on Mentoring

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/OPINION/806290303/-1/ARCHIVE

July Match of the Month: Robyn Stattel and Amanda

For the month of July, we are so pleased to honor Robyn Stattel and her mentee, Amanda, for match of the month. On July 2nd, this pair will celebrate their first anniversary of being matched!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Having had experience working in schools with young people in the past, Robyn knew she enjoyed assisting this population. She also knew how stressful it can be. She deciding mentoring would be the perfect way for her to be involved with youth without the demand of a full-time position in the field. “With mentoring, it’s all the good without the bad of being in a school situation (like punishment),” Robyn stated during the matching process. On her application, Robyn wrote that she remembers being a teenager and that with her care and patience she could assist another young girl with this difficult stage of life.
Amanda was referred to mentoring by her counselor who felt that she could benefit from a positive role model as well as from having the opportunity to get assistance with career planning. Amanda stated that she had a mentor as a youngster and that it was a “great experience”—she definitely looked forward to having a mentor again.
Since being matched, Robyn and Amanda have spent a lot of time together walking, talking and going out for pizza. On one of their early outings, Robyn’s car broke down and the pair was forced to walk quite a distance in order to get help. Robyn wrote, “…we put one of my dogs on a leash and we traded off carrying my other dog back into Burlington! She was great…”
Amanda is pretty quiet when asked about her mentor, but she gets a little grin on her face and says simply, “she’s awesome.”
CONGRATULATIONS again on being matched for one year!

www.kingdomcounty/calendar/

The Voices Project

A great activity for you and your teenage mentee!

Shout it Out is an original musical based on the lives of Vermont teens. The feature film is an adaptation of the groundbreaking original stage musical The Voices Project that toured to thirteen towns across Vermont in 2005 and was based on writings by Vermont teenagers with original music by teens. The stories and characters were developed during an intensive, yearlong statewide research phase in which more than 1000 teens participated.Shout it Out tells the story of a group of teenagers making their way through high school. The film follows them through some of the more tumultuous moments of teenagehood: academic pressure; friction with peers, teachers, and parents; trying to fit in, trying to find one’s self, fear of the future; nostalgia for the past; friendship; and first love.
Shout it Out is a raw, real, revealing, compassionate, powerful, funny and ultimately affirmative look at the transformative powers of young people The songs are dynamic and range from love songs to rap and hip-hop.

Shout it Out is about listening to the voices of youth, respecting and honoring their struggles and aspirations and hearing their voices loud and clear!

Mature Themes.