Latest / Inside the OSD / S3 E9 - Mentor Month Ft. Carol Christopher, Student Mentees and Mentors

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S3 E9 - Mentor Month Ft. Carol Christopher, Student Mentees and Mentors · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: January is National Mentor Month, and we are fortunate to have an amazing mentoring program in our district.
• 0:07
  Today we're going to hear about the "Be a Champion" mentor program from the program coordinator and two pairs of mentors and mentees.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:21
  Here is your host, lifelong educator and our superintendent, doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER1: Thanks for being here, Carol. I'm excited to talk with you today about such an important topic,
• 0:35
  which is mentoring. So first, I'd like you to start by introducing yourself and talking about your role in the mentoring program here in the OSD.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER3: Yes. Thank you. Glad to be here. My name is Carol Christopher and I am the district coordinator for the "Be a Champion" mentoring program for the Oregon
• 0:53
  School District. And, uh, in terms of how the program got started, we're in our fifth year here with the district
• 1:02
  and it was a group of, uh, originally a collaboration between Friends of Oregon School Districts and the Oregon School District.
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  And they started out with a prototype of about 13 mentors.
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  And, uh, things just kind of blossomed. And in 2021, I was hired to coordinate across the district schools.
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  So we serve, uh, kids in fourth to eighth grade.
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  So any of the schools that have fourth to eighth graders have mentors.
• 1:34
  Okay. Proudly, w e have over 70 pairings of mentors and mentees today.
• 1:40
  Oh, we
• 1:40
  SPEAKER1: started with 13 and we have 70?! Yes. Oh, that's such fantastic information.
• 1:46
  Okay. That's exciting. Yes. Are there any special skills that mentors have to have?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER3: Great question. Uh, just an interest in, um, in kids and, uh, just really getting to know someone on a,
• 2:01
  on a personal level. And there are no specific skills that you have to have to be a mentor.
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  Just really that you care and you have the the time to come about.
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  It takes about an hour of our out of your week to to be a mentor.
• 2:17
  Yeah.
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  SPEAKER1: This isn't about helping with homework or anything like that.
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  I know sometimes people can be worried. "I don't know how to do that math." Well,
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  right. Absolutely. I've been with my mentee for five years.
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  We've never done math together. A lot of Uno, a lot of Jenga, which involves math,
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  maybe. Right, but never. Never. That kind of thing.
• 2:36
  Right. It's--it's not a tutoring relationship.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER3: Absolutely. It's not a tutoring program.
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  It's a relationship based and really, um, building on that relationship and, um,
• 2:49
  getting to know that person and being a positive adult and a support person for that student.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. So now I'm going to turn to a couple of our students and their mentors.
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  And we have a few people here--a handful.
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  So if you don't mind, I'll ask you by starting--or introducing yourself as a way to begin.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. I'm Matt Kingsley. I'm a mentor here with with Keaton.
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  And you want to introduce yourself quick and then we can kind of back and forth it?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER5: Sure. I'm Keaton Campbell, and Matt Kingsley is my --is my mentor.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah. And I think we started, like, the tail end of when you were in--would have been fifth grade and then so sixth grade.
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  And now Keaton is in seventh. So we're in year three or year two and a half.
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  So about half of the time that Oregon has had a mentoring program.
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  Um, you know, I think it kind of changed year to year.
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  Like what we do, you know, this year has been a lot of outside here at the new school,
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  uh, basketball, tetherball, football. Um, but, you know, occasionally inside, especially when it gets cold.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER1: And do you play games inside? Because that's definitely what I've done before.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER4: We have. Yeah. Um, just I think last week we tried something new.
• 4:05
  New for Keaton, but I wish I knew the rules to Catan a little bit better.
• 4:09
  You know, I'm sure we kind of make up our own rules sometimes.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER1: That's the fun part.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. Um, but, yeah, we've done some, some games.
• 4:16
  I think when we first started, we did a lot of chess and battleship, like the first year.
• 4:21
  Yeah. And that was good. You were just kind of, you know, getting to--getting to know the game of chess a little bit.
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  And I can't get people at my house to play.
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  So it was--it was fun to be able to play it again after a few years off.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER1: Um, definitely a bonus if he's helping you learn chess.
• 4:38
  That's pretty cool.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER4: I think last year we, uh, we took over. One of the counselors at RCI would lend us her office while she was out on recess duty,
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  and we hooped it up in there on the back of the door.
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  And so, you know, it was just some dunk contests, some one on one, some HORSE.
• 4:57
  We mixed it up, but that was probably our most common, uh, thing last year.
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  And that was a lot of fun. That was that was probably my favorite.
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  That was
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  SPEAKER1: awesome.
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  SPEAKER4: Out of all the ways we find to, you know, to spend time.
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  That was that might have been one that I think we had the most fun on, I don't know.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER1: Well, I was going to ask you about a specific event or memory, but it sounds like hoops in the counselor's office is one of those things.
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  Is there anything else Keaton that you can think about, or is that stand out to you there,
• 5:25
  too?
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  SPEAKER6: Sure.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER1: I liked that a lot.
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  SPEAKER4: Thank you. That's what you always wanted to do last year and was like, that's perfect with me. I'm a basketball guy.
• 5:33
  I love basketball, so it's perfect. It's your
• 5:36
  SPEAKER5: famous hoop shot or.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER4: My hook? My skyhook? Yeah.
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  SPEAKER6: It's tough. It's tough with the low ceilings, but I can still.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER1: But you made it happen. Okay, I love it.
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  SPEAKER4: It's a lot easier outside to show off the hook
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  SPEAKER6: shot, but.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER1: All right, now I'm going to move to the other side over here. Do you want to do some introductions?
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  SPEAKER7: Yeah. My name is Alex Marks. I'm the director of Oregon Community Education Recreation,
• 5:58
  and I'm also the co mentor of Austin.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER5: Hello I'm Austin and my mentors are Alex and Noah.
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  SPEAKER8: Yeah. My name is Noah Bertrand, and I am the program supervisor with Oregon Community Ed.
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  Rec. Um, and like Alex said, I'm also the co mentor of of Austin as well.
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  SPEAKER1: All right. So what are your favorite things about being a mentor or a mentee?
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  SPEAKER7: I think uh, getting to see how Austin has grown over the past several years.
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  We've been with him since he was just finishing up third grade, and now he's in seventh grade here.
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  So it's probably the last couple months of third grade.
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  Um, but seeing how Austin has grown as a student and as a person, um, he's just gotten much more outgoing,
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  which is awesome to see. He has a lot of fun with us, but I also see him talking to a lot more kids and just having a blast.
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  Um, it's really cool to see.
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  SPEAKER8: Yeah, kind of going off that with Alex. What Alex said too, is just building the relationships. Um,
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  kind of seeing how that's grown over the course of the last several years with Austin as well.
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  Um, his interests have kind of changed and shifted a little bit as well from more going outside and kind of kicking the ball around and doing things like
• 7:09
  that to, um, just beating me in Sorry every single week and in Uno as well.
• 7:15
  And kind of how those shifts and changes have kind of come up as well.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER1: What's your favorite thing, Austin?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER5: Um, absolutely b eating Noah and Alex in Sorry.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER6: Um.
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  SPEAKER1: All right, all right. So that kind of gets to what are the things you like to do together. So right now, it sounds like games are a big part of how you spend
• 7:34
  your time.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER7: Yeah. As Noah said, we spent a lot of time, you know, kicking a ball around or shooting hoops.
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  Um, then it's kind of transitioned to a few more board games, especially in the colder months. I mean,
• 7:45
  um, last year we got a new, uh, origami a bit.
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  Um, we also did some paper plane contests in RCI's cafeteria, and unfortunately,
• 7:53
  mine would always just take a hard hook to the side.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER9: But Austin.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER7: Austin would get his to go pretty much the length of the cafeteria, which is, oh.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER1: Wow, that's pretty
• 8:01
  SPEAKER7: good. I'm terrible at building those things, so he would actually teach me how to do it. So, um, had fun with that.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, I love that. It's a mutually beneficial thing.
• 8:10
  Right?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER6: You can teach you things, for Yeah.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER1: That's very good. Is there any specific memory that stands out to you guys?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER7: I would say that paper plane building contest that we
• 8:20
  SPEAKER6: had. That was a big one
• 8:21
  SPEAKER7: for you? Fun. But, you know, it's just getting getting my butt whooped every week and.
• 8:25
  Sorry. Yeah, it's a great memory. Yeah, I'll cherish that
• 8:28
  SPEAKER6: one for a long time.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER1: I like that. Okay, so mentors then. Um, what would you tell adults who are thinking about becoming a mentor?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER4: I would, I would encourage it. I know I was certainly encouraged to by a couple people that were already involved in the mentor program.
• 8:47
  "Oh, you should do it. You should do it." And so that's the first step is just, you know,
• 8:52
  I think Carol mentioned that it's an hour a week commitment.
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  And I think most people have that, especially nowadays with more and more people, you know, working from home or having that kind of flexibility in their
• 9:01
  schedule. Sure. Um, and, you know, it's--it's a lot of fun, right?
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  And maybe not for everybody. And I'm sure there have been cases where it hasn't worked out.
• 9:12
  Uh, but I know that you guys really try and find like good pairings is how it was explained to me.
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  So you know I would encourage it. It's--it.
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  It just I don't know, it's just a good break from everything else.
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  And to come and to hang out with somebody that's fun to hang out with. And, you know,
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  I think the some of the other mentors down there talk about, you get to watch the growth and development and it helps you grow and develop as
• 9:39
  well as a person.
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  SPEAKER6: So nice.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER1: Anything to add Alex and Noah?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER7: Yeah, I would--I would agree with all that.
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  Um, I think, you know, Carol, you touched on it earlier how some people might think that,
• 9:50
  oh, this is like a tutor program. It's not a tutor program.
• 9:53
  You know, you're--you're having fun with--with your--with your mentee.
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  And I was I was encouraged to join by Amy Miller.
• 10:00
  Um, when I first joined the district, and I, I, you know, enjoyed the time every week that we get to do it,
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  it's a nice break from maybe the day to day office grind of everything else.
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  So, um, I think I think it's very beneficial to both the mentee but also the mentor.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER6: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER8: Yeah I agree I was going to touch on that as well, where I think it's mutually beneficial to, um,
• 10:21
  to mentor and the mentee. Um, I think there's kind of this connotation that you're trying to help them,
• 10:27
  but every time you go and you show up and you, you participate in these activities and these games, they're helping you just as
• 10:32
  much. And you never leave in a worse mood.
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  You're always leaving in a better mood. You always
• 10:37
  SPEAKER6: leave --day's.
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  SPEAKER8: Your day's always, you know, kind of rejuvenated. And it's always fun, even when you, you know, you're getting your butt kicked in S orry every single
• 10:44
  week or whatever it might be. It's always the the camaraderie that you kind of, you know,
• 10:48
  join in together. And it always kind of puts you in a better mood.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER1: I really I appreciate that because you're right. I don't think there's ever been a time when I've left my time with my mentee where I haven't been lifted up in
• 10:59
  some way. Right? It's always been something that I've looked forward to and really enjoyed,
• 11:05
  because it's very different from the majority of what I do.
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  And so just that one on one time and whatever however we choose to spend it, and it's changed so much over the years.
• 11:15
  Um, it's always been something I look forward to every week.
• 11:19
  Yeah. So then, Carol, how can someone become a mentor if they're interested?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER3: You bet. We're definitely always accepting new mentors.
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  And I'll just say, especially, um, we're in need of more male mentors.
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  We have a number of, um, male students who are interested in being paired with a male mentor.
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  So the easiest way is to go on to the Oregon um School District website.
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  Click on the volunteer link. Okay. And then once you click on that, you'll get to you'll see a dropdown of options.
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  And you'll want to go to the "Be a Champion Mentor" volunteer option.
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  When you click on that, it will take you to a very simple inquiry page and you can get more information there as well.
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  SPEAKER1: Okay, so that sounds pretty simple.
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  SPEAKER3: Yes, yes it is.
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  SPEAKER1: All right. Does anybody want to add anything else about the mentor program?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER7: I would give it a shot if you're on the edge.
• 12:17
  It's very, very much worth your time. Plus, there's a very fun picnic at the end of the year that we all get together.
• 12:25
  It's a--it's a good time.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER1: I agree. It is a fun picnic. Thanks for thanks for putting that out there.
• 12:31
  Thank you for spending a little bit of time today talking with me.
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  I'm really glad that you're enjoying the time together.
• 12:37
  Your experiences are important, and I know that our listeners are going to love hearing about them.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER10: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at Oregon
• 12:52
  SD.org/Podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 12:59
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 13:05
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.