The best part of being a Rotarian is doing stuff – particularly projects where we feel we might have a chance of making a difference.   The Rotary Club of Cataraqui – Kingston has started such a project and our Passport Club decided last October to become partners.  The project is focused on High School students living in the North end of Kingston who come from challenging households where there is little stability and limited consistent available support and opportunity. Below you will find an interesting piece on the Mentorship Training now underway with Margaret Shibley reporting on our experience this past week.  Margaret has done a great deal of the heavy lifting on this project working closely with the Cataraqui - Kingston Club in modifying and finalizing their RI proposal.   Well done, Margaret!  At the end of her piece is a link to our Document section and a more detailed report in the FAR Project folder.  Please have a look

Terry Forth and I both joined the Mentorship Training sessions provided by the KEYS InSight Program (May 6 & 7). The Rotary FAR project will provide professional resources to mentor the graduates of the existing Pathways to Education Program as they transition to work or to secondary education. Some of the grads, however, don’t feel ready to make a decision yet. It is this smaller sub-group that we as Rotarians will be mentoring, 

 

I hadn't thought about what would be involved in the training, but it turned out to be not so much a ‘how to’ as a ‘how to understand’ experience.

 

One of the tools used to trigger discussion was a list of 40 assets to developing as a capable and confident adult. Of the 40, 20 were external assets, like parental involvement, feeling safe at home, school, and in the neighbourhood, and positive family communication. I think all of us realized just how blessed we were as youngsters, followed by the realization that the kids in this program have not been nearly so fortunate.

 

Before we were overwhelmed by the differences between what they needed and what they were getting, we heard about the resilience these young people have already demonstrated in their participation in the Pathways Project over the past years in their high school. We heard about internal assets, such as motivation to learn and grow, learning to care about others, taking responsibility for their actions.

 

In the end, we realized the most important thing we can do for these kids is to listen and to care - to provide an adult who respects them. 

 

The KEYS InSight Program folk are always looking for mentors, and their support is professional. extensive, and now getting even better at facilitating these relationships online!  Let Terry or me know if you think you might be interested in mentoring. Our heads may be grey, but our hearts are big.