I Love My Mentee

I had a friend ask me about this today and I realized I haven't said anything about my wonderful mentee Rocio. I just LOVE her!

First of all let me tell you, I've tried mentoring a couple of times before and I didn't have that great of an experience. The other two attempts were not fruitful. I ended up dropping out both times. This is my third try and this has been the best one.

I've met with my mentee three times now. We've talked about what she wants to do in life, about applying for college, and scholarships. I've mentioned before that she's in the school mariachi band and plays the gitarron. She's also in ROTC and recently I found out she helped establish an organization for immigrant children at her school. She herself is a Resident from Mexico.

My friend Jena, the great journalist, is going to visit her with me one day next month. I want her to meet Jena because I want her to meet someone who has pursued a career in Journalism. Her sister Angie, my other good friend, who volunteers for Nuestra Palabra and the radio show on KPFT, is going to organize a visit to the radio show. When I told my mentee all this she was so excited. I could tell it really made her day. She's interested in a career in journalism or broadcast.

I also printed out a bunch of scholarship information for her on communication scholarships and I think she was impressed that I took the time to do all of that. We talked about her scholarship applications and what she should list as her accomplishments. She has several ribbons from ROTC. I told her she should list every ribbon if it represents an accomplishment on her part. She didn't realize she could do that, since they aren't related to the major she's interested in. I explained to her that she still can list them because they are awards and they show excellence on her part. She was happy to hear that. I was just happy to be there and to give her advice. This has been my best mentoring experience yet!

I'm volunteering to mentor through Project Grad. Check it out. http://www.projectgrad.org/site/pp.asp?c=fuLTJeMUKrH&b=365959