Our guests today are Alice Brown from Shelburne Community School Community Youth Mentoring Program and Alison Duback from CVU Community Youth Mentoring Program.
Carrie called the meeting to order at 7:30 and welcomed our two guest speakers.
June 23, 2023 has been set for the Changing of The Guard ceremony. A small committee volunteered to help Dan with this event: Linda Gilbert, Linda Barker, Margo Casco, Chris Davis, Keith Walsh, Carole Obuchowski and Nancy Danforth
Linda G updated the club on the Community Hero project. No date has been set yet.
March 18 is Pie For Breakfast! Mancy volunteers and pie makers will be required. Friday (March 17) will be a set up day. The event is 8 – 12. Keith will bring a convection oven for warming. The club will purchase 100 pies and the club membership will make 50. Amanda will be requesting the CVU Volunteer Outreach Club to volunteer with us.
Diana introduced Alison Duback and Alice Brown.
Alice is the Community Youth Coordinator for the Connecting Youth Mentoring Program at Shelburne Community School. She lives in Shelburne and is actively involved in our community including serving on the board of the Pierson Library.
Alice spoke to the club about the program and how children really continue to struggle in school and life, post pandemic. It is very important that these children have adults in their life. This program is for everyone though, Shelburne has 51 kids currently enrolled, and these numbers are growing. There is a waiting list because more volunteers are needed. The middle schoolers are in transition from children to young adults so this is a critical time in their lives.
A curriculum is provided to the volunteers along with extensive training and the space is provided at the school. “Hanging out” is the ultimate goal. The three communities of Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg will do a bowling event next week, which further enhances the experience, expanding the child’s community.
Allison Duback is the Coordinator at CVU for this program. She shared what defines a mentor: instructor, educator, friend, role model, good listener, empathetic, helping you realize your potential.
The club members shared their experiences with important people who mentored them as children. One in three young people will grow up without a mentor at all.
Allison explained the differences between the school-based program (Shelburne Community School) and the CVU community based program. In high school, the mentor and the student set up their own schedules and meet four hours a month. The goal is to build a relationship, unlike the middle school program, which is simpler in design.
She shared a short video of the differences between empathy and sympathy by Brene Brown that they utilize with mentors, teaching them empathy, practice cultural humility, be supportive, teach each other, have fun and CONNET.
The program provides formal training on many different levels along with support via mentor meetups and other resources. The program is also reviewed and surveyed annually.
Dan presented the speakers with the book “Mentoring: Mindset, Skill and Tools” by Ann Rolfe which will be donated in both their names to the Hinesburg Carpenter Carse library.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30.