Editor’s Note
This is
a transcript of Christine Sorrels’ presentation at Fairview's Mission Mentors
Appreciation Banquet. A Yukon Public Schools mentor and mentoring director, Christine’s
story encompasses the beginning of Yukon’s mentoring program, mentors’ making
an impact, mentoring Jeremy, and encouraging other mentors and potential
mentors. More information about Christine and Yukon follow.
Salute to Mission Mentors
I was
very impressed with the success you have had with mentors and mentee since your
beginning in 2010. That first year you had 50 matches. This year 70 or more!
That is remarkable! Congratulations to John Medley, your Mentor of the Year,
honored at the State Capitol in January. Also, the Mission Mentors YouTube
video, https://youtu.be/he3dZpd6JoI, is very cool! We
may have to borrow your format.
Yukon Public School's Miller Mentors
Beginning
In
1998, I attended a Youth Friends Mentoring conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
It was the only formal mentoring program around that had training on how to
begin a mentoring program. I felt our Yukon Public Schools Helping Hand
Volunteer Program would be a great fit for school-based mentoring, which was
really needed in our community. For example, in 1998 the United States rated at
34 per cent the highest number of
single-parent families among developed countries. Oklahoma has consistently
been in the top ten states with the highest divorce rate, in fact, number one
in the USA in 2011.
Funding & Planning
I
applied and received a Learn & Serve grant to start our program. Not a lot of folks had heard about mentoring
then. Counselors understood the need for and wanted mentors. Understandably, teachers,
on the other hand, were not too thrilled to have students pulled from their
instructional time throughout the day.
So we compromised that first year by
mentoring from 2:45 to 3:25 p.m. at the end of the school day. Many of the
students who were referred were already being pulled out of their classrooms
for math or reading labs or other specials in their Individual Education Plan
(IEP). Teachers wanted the time with these students to give them as much
instruction in their classrooms as possible. As a former second grade teacher,
I understood their concerns.
The Pilot and Results
In
January 1999, we kicked off the program with nine mentors at Skyview Elementary
School. At the end of that school year, teachers that had students with a
mentor were sold! Mentors had made a positive change in their mentees’
behavior, school attendance, and grades. The teachers said, ‘Tell the mentors
to come any time of day, whenever it’s convenient for them! And get
more…because we have many more students who need a mentor!’
The
next year we had 41 matches at four school sites. By the third year, we were in five of Yukon’s
seven elementary schools with 96 matches.
Mentors’ Making an Impact
Many
times, especially at the beginning of a new mentoring relationship, mentors may
not feel as if they are making an impact on a child’s life. I know because I
mentored a second-grade girl who was struggling with many issues. Kammie, my
mentee, was unable to pass second grade, although I had mentored her for half a
year. Disappointed in myself, I felt as if I had failed her.
But for
the past 16 years since we began our program, I can tell you more often than
not mentoring does make a huge impact in a child’s life even if the child does
not know how to express that back to the mentor.
As you
know many of the students we mentor have never been taught appreciation. They
have only been taught rejection, sadness, and a lack of self-worth whether it
is because of academic struggles, a lack of caring and nurturing at home, or a
combination of both.
As it turned out, failing was a good move for my little
mentee. Her not being able to pass the
second grade actually helped her mature and develop better skills and coping
with school.
She
just graduated from Yukon High school a couple of weeks ago and began taking
summer college classes this week! Yes, I continued to mentor her. I didn’t give
up.
Our
program’s mission statement is "Mentors will serve as role models and tutors
providing academic and social support to empower and motivate students to
succeed." It may take more than one
semester or even one school year to feel you are having success with a
child you are mentoring…but don’t give up!
At orientations, I always tell our mentors that most of us have had at
least one person in our lives that made a difference. Even as a young adult or
in your work, someone may have taken a special interest in you with a
constructive positive attitude that influenced your outcome. I tell them, "You
might not have called them a mentor back then. Can you, however, recall how
that person made a difference in your life? ‘How he or she made you feel or how
you could see things in a different perspective for your life?"
MENTORING JEREMY
 |
| Jeremy Bennett & Christine Sorrels |
Bonding through Adversity
Jeremy
is another of our program’s success stories. In 1999, several teachers and I
were asked to help with remediation tutoring and mentoring after school for a
group of students. I was matched with a young man named Jeremy Bennett. It was a tough time for Jeremy Bennett as his
mother was going through some very difficult health issues. At that time I was
dealing with the impending death of my sister, who had a 13-year-old daughter
whom I loved and finished rearing. Both
women, Jeremy’s mom and my sister, passed within weeks of each other from the
same disease. Needless to say, Jeremy
and I created a strong bond.
Sealing the Bond
Later
Jeremy and I reconnected again at the local cancer charity, the Relay For
Life. Because so many folks that year were in the stadium and so many
luminaries on the football field, an announcement was made that no children
would be allowed on the field. Jeremy was devastated. He sought me out in the crowd,
and he told me that he would not be allowed to light his mother’s memorial
luminary. He asked me if I would do it for him. Fiercely determined, I grabbed
his hand, and together we walked onto the stadium floor. Not turned away, we
lit both of their luminaries together. That lighting ceremony was an
unforgettable emotional moment in my life.
Jeremy's Growing Older
As
Jeremy went through high school, we didn’t have formal mentoring meetings, but
I always kept up with him. Always happy to see each other, we would pass in the
hallways at school, stop, and spend a few minutes catching up. I witnessed his
leadership skills grow stronger and stronger.
He was an officer in Yukon’s agriculture classes. I heard an outstanding
speech he gave to middle school students about skills and responsibilities of
being an officer in the agriculture program. Jeremy went on to compete
nationally in FFA. Jeremy, a graduate of Oklahoma State University, currently
is the field representative for Congressmen Frank D. Lucas. Reading in our
local newspaper about Jeremy’s accomplishments throughout his high school and
college life pleased me.
Surprise
Last
school year, I had one of the biggest thrills of my life when Jeremy walked
into my office at the school’s administration building. The first thing he said
was, "Mrs. Sorrels, do you remember me?" As my eyes filled with tears of
happiness from seeing him, he said, "I’m here because I’m in a position now
where I just want to give back."
Jeremy's Mentoring
Jeremy began mentoring a third-grade boy last
year. This year while mentoring two third-grade boys, Jeremy has already made
quite an impact in their lives as well as upon the faculty and staff of Myers
Elementary and Yukon Schools.
Encouragement to Live and Mentor Passionately
I would like to
close with these words from the Motivation
Manifesto by Brendon Burchard, as a reminder to each of us, including
myself, to think about what you choose to do each day and for next school year
as you re-up to mentor again.
Most people are
reactive vs proactive. We allow other people and their needs to dictate our
days…Setting goals for each day, being intentional about living now! That is
where true joy and happiness come from. LIVE NOW! How often do you live your
life telling yourself, I have a little more busywork THEN I can relax; THEN I
can enjoy my children; THEN I can pursue my life's work; THEN I can be happy?
Don't do the minimum each day, choking through life waiting for happiness to
knock on your door. Be intentional with your life, you have the choice to
create happiness!
Burchard’s ideas
are nothing new, but many of us must motivate ourselves to be intentional and
make critical choices. We don’t have a second chance, folks…as you have heard
before, this isn’t a dress rehearsal… this is your life; therefore,
1) Choose to elevate
OTHERS!
2)
Commitment to be consistent
and dependable – to maintain a steady presence in the life of the youth you have
mentored or will be mentoring next year.
3)
Spread the word… you are the
greatest recruitment tool for Oklahoma’s children.
Introduction of Jeremy
I’m so
proud of the work and dedication my ‘mentee turned mentor’ is doing with his
students. Everyone needs a ‘Jeremy’ in his or her life. It is my honor to
introduce Yukon’s 2014-2015 Mentor of the Year, Jeremy Bennett.
See the
next post for Jeremy’s sharing his mentoring experience.
More about Christine &
Yukon Public Schools, Yukon, OK
Christine
Sorrels, a mentor since 1998, is the director of Yukon Public Schools Helping
Hand Volunteer Program, 45 years old, and Miller Mentors. Yukon, once a
closely-knit rural area near Oklahoma City, is a rapidly growing suburban
community of about 25,000 people. In addition to several other school programs,
Christine and her staff/sidekicks, Christal Whitmire and Donna Klukas,
encourage and supervise over 750 volunteers, mentors, and academic tutors
within nine elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one
alternative school. ‘A masterful achievement! Yukon’s goal with so many
structured contact mechanisms between students and community members is to
preserve the small town atmosphere in burgeoning suburbia. Perhaps more
importantly than all of her accomplishments and well-executed responsibilities,
Christine is the mentor of the mentee turned mentor.
Yukon, located along historic Route 66, has long been
known for its grain milling industries, hence the apropos name of the program,
Miller Mentors.
We are so proud of the leadership of western Oklahoma towns such as Fairview and Yukon to begin and sustain effective mentoring programs.
U.S. News & World Report
