Speed Matching!

Speed matching in 6th hour.

We did it--we matched our mentors with mentees! What an exciting week it was for us as we worked through the process of "speed matching" so that every mentor could speak with every mentee, and vice versa. We had interview sheets and a round-robin circle set-up and we asked the mentees to rotate chairs. Mentors and mentees each got to ask one question to each other (we worked on these questions for a while to ensure they were very specific, focused questions!). After asking his or her questions each then made a notation as to how well suited they felt to work with the other person (1 indicating tension and feelings of uncertainty about the matching; 5 indicating a great match with shared values). I was proud at the seriousness our scholars displayed while going through this long, complicated process. We even had a few new scholars join us last week as mentees and I was so happy to be able to include them in the "speed matching" process.

Speed matching in 3rd hour.

Paper airplane contest during 6th hour on Friday! We had a blast.

After everyone received their mentor or mentee (or more than one mentee in some cases!) everyone got new assigned seats. We also worked on a lesson called, "The People in my World," which asked our scholars to identify the important people with whom they network. We discussed the meaning and importance of the word "network" and noted how an inability to network can hold one back. We worked hard with our new mentor/mentee pairs to put down on a map all the various people with whom our scholars come into contact. We also spoke at length about how certain people may become a resource for jobs or recommendations over time, and that now is a great time to start identifying those people who may turn into great resources in the future.

We had some fun on Friday as well with a paper airplane contest. We had so many great models--it was pretty neat! Congrats to Nate Tobin, who built a plane no one could beat (yet!).

We have our first Mentor Monday day this week, and I am so excited to get to work with my new group of amazing mentor leaders. We will also have the final results for all the elected class presidents next week.

Stacey, a former mentor, in her JROTC uniform last week after school. 

On another note, I was so pleased to have had several of my old mentors stop by the school for a quick visit last week. Shout out to Stacey Tejada for her hard work in the JROTC over at Westy. She came by to show off her uniform this past week--way to go, Stacey!