Karen

Recently I decided to take on a mentee. Her name is Karen. She’s a gem! She’s 9 years old, smart as a whip and will melt you with her chocolate brown doe eyes and broad smile. Don’t get me wrong- she is no shrinking violet. The girl can dish it out (as well as take it) and can “hang” with a houseful of teenage boys as if she’s done it all her life. This girl has all the right stuff to make it and I want to make sure she does. On our first meeting we wrote down a list of things we wanted to do together. “How much time do we have?” she asked. “I don’t know, ten minutes or so”, I answered. “No, I mean how many years will we be together?” She responded. Wow! This seemed out of left field. “I don’t know, how long do you want to be together?” She was quiet and then said, “30 years.” “30 years? You will be 39. You’ll be done with college, probably be married and have a couple of kids. I’ll be 78,” I explained. She laughed. “That’s like a Grandma! Don’t worry, if you die, I will go to your funeral.” This time I laughed. “Yes you will! And you will stand up there and tell everyone what we’ve done over the past 30 years!” She smiled and said, “And I’ll tell them you were the most amazing woman ever.”
I think at 39, she will be the most amazing woman ever.
Her thoughts were not out of left field. Karen knows exactly what she wants from our relationship. Now, I do too. How great would it be if I DID see her through the next thirty years? I think we’ll just start with 2009!
Of all the great youth activities Mika has going on, I think that our Mentoring program is the most important. You may have read the statistics of how valuable it is to have good adult role models for our children. Studies show that support and encouragement keep them in school longer and help kids navigate the tricky parts of growing up. We know mentoring exposes kids to things they might not have access to in their families and that nearly 18 million kids’ ages 10-18 are at risk of not living up to their potential if they don’t have a strong adult role model in their lives. We currently have 15 pairs of mentors and mentees. Connecting students with their adult friends is one of the many joys of my job, but nothing compares to watching what happens when they start to build their relationships. If you are interested in mentoring a student (with or without a 30 year commitment) contact me at caryn@mikacdc.org