EOY Preparations & YESS Breakfast

Ava interviews Ingrid during 3rd hour.

We are all so happy to have wrapped up our final week of testing last week at Shaw Heights. Our scholars have been working so hard these past three weeks, and now that testing is over they are itching for summer break to arrive. We spent the last week preparing for the end of the year by doing things such as starting the voting process for Mentor & Mentee of the year, hosting mentor interviews, and working on our slide show for the end of year celebration scheduled for Wednesday, May 17th at Westy High School. Preparing for the end of the year has many of our mentors feeling nostalgic (I must admit I find it hard that my 8th grade mentors will soon be leaving!). Yet, at the same time, there is a feeling of excitement for those who have decided to be mentors in the fall. We all had such a wonderful morning at the YESS breakfast on Thursday, and I am so honored to be working for an organization which has so clearly bettered the wider Denver community.

Conner interviews Jessiah during 4th hour.

On Monday the mentors and I had hosted interviews for potential candidates for the fall. The mentors prepared by choosing specific questions to ask and by discussing before hand the kind of answers we are looking for in a future mentor. We held the interviews all day long, and it was great to see our scholars using the knowledge we have learned recently regarding interviews and preparedness. I was impressed by several mentees for the level of sincerity and seriousness that they demonstrated during the process. It was certainly nerve-wracking for many and yet they remained professional and mature. I am pleased to say that 90% of our mentees wish to come back as mentors next year. I think this speaks volumes for the program and the desire of these young people to continue the cycle of support and care. We are in for some amazing new mentors come fall!

Ariana, Ava and I after I arrived back at school from the breakfast.

This past week we also began the voting process to select the mentor and mentee of the year. Each class was asked to think about one mentor and one mentee (they did not have to be a pair) whom they think has shown the most GROWTH in the following areas: respect, participation, organization, and attendance. I asked them to think about who had taken the knowledge from our lessons and was putting it work every day, all the time, every where. Since we have five YESS classes, we ended up with five finalists in each category. This week each class will have a chance to pick one of the five mentors, and one of the five mentees. We will present the mentor and mentee with an award at our end of year celebration. The finalists for the mentors are: Matt Garcia, Gio Ornelas, Brandon Bieske, Dejah-Monae Rosales, and Kiana Gerston, The finalists for mentees are: Hailey Tinney, Malachi Fernandez, Amanda Martinez Olivas, Kiki Lee, and Jordy Lopez Ontiveros.

The YESS breakfast was so moving and so well thought out--I couldn't have felt more proud as I listened to the young scholars from our high school programs speak about how and why YESS has changed their lives. It was so fulfilling to see one of our own alumni speak at the podium about his career, education, and his ability to achieve his dreams thanks to his participation in YESS. They showed the video that Westminster was so kind to film for YESS, and I couldn't hold back the tears as they focused on our program here at Shaw. It was such a special moment to see my scholars up on the big screen, What a fantastic way to celebrate all of the successes of our students and the programs. Here is the link to the video: https://vimeo.com/213900811/c82ccf61c0

Next week will host an open house for YESS and our scholars will get a chance to interact with some of the board members. We are all happy to be back to work with a normal schedule next week and lots of fun things to look forward to as we near the end of the school year.