Mentor Day Goes to College

Moo Bae, Thurgood Marshall Academy '11, George Washington University '15 leads a tour for mentors and students.

Ever wished you could have a preview into college life? Last Saturday, TMA students got a glimpse into George Washington University during Mentor Day. The weather was perfect on Saturday as students and mentors from TMA exited large yellow school buses and arrived at the Marvin Center, the hub of GW’s campus. TMA alum and current GW freshman Moo Johnson led mentors and mentees on a tour through the Foggy Bottom campus highlighting study spaces, dormitories, and dining options.

Pairs also joined Amada Caliz, TMA alum and GW senior or set off on their own using self-guided tours to lead them around the beautiful GW campus. Following the tours, the group gathered together for a panel on college that focused on HBCUs and public universities. Mentors who attended Howard, Hampton. UNC-Chapel Hill, and University of Illinois-Champagne, joined Moo to offer advice and answered questions from students about their experiences in college. After the panel everyone spread out and enjoyed lunch at different establishments in Foggy Bottom including Baja Fresh, Johnny Rocket’s and Whole Foods.

It was a great way to spend a beautiful spring day and start thinking about next steps in the college process!

Mentor Day Takes Flight!

On Saturday, January 21st mentors and mentees showed their dedication by coming out to TMA amid ice and freezing rain for Mentor Day. Despite the freezing (literally) weather, pairs were still excited to participate in the planned ice skating activities. Unfortunately, the federal government did not anticipate their dedication to winter activities and the skating rink was closed. The mentor pairs rebounded gracefully and the group spent the day at the Air and Space Museum. Pairs enjoyed a 3D IMAX movie, “Legends of Flight” and learned about the Wright brothers’ first flight and Bessie Coleman, the first female African American pilot. Upon returning to TMA pairs were greeted with a feast from Chipotle procured by Ms. Sher. Not a bad end to the coldest day of the year.

Doors Opening: Mentor Program 2011

The excitement in the air was palpable last Saturday morning at TMA as 60 new mentor pairs met each other for the first time. Joining 20 returning mentor pairs, all students and their mentors spent a fun-filled day together. TMA students and mentors participated in a Metro-themed series of activities and made stops in different rooms where they participated in a scavenger hunt (U Street Searchozo), planned their first outing together (World Wide Webly Park), interviewed each other and then participated in a quiz game (Quiztal City) and then played teambuilding games including the human knot (Fort Knotten). The day culminated with a cookout where family members gathered to meet students’ mentors.

Look for another Mentor Program update in November. The next Mentor Day is November 19^th!

Mentor Rafia Zahir-Uddin and mentee Derricka Black at Quiztal City.

Mentor Omar Newland and mentee Malik Clark after planning their first outing at World Wide Webly Park.

Mentor Program Day of Community Service!

Saturday, April 9th was a busy at Thurgood Marshall Academy. Mentors and mentees in TMA's own Mentor Program spent the day working on four different service projects. Throughout the day, they made sandwiches that were delivered to the Gospel Rescue Ministries of DC, made 8 care packages for soldiers serving overseas that together weighed over 150 pounds , created over 60 door tags and picture frames for seniors and planted flowers, painted signs and repaired raised beds in our garden.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Mentor Day at Georgetown University!

On Saturday, March 5 the Mentor Program visited the beautiful campus of Georgetown University. Led by mentor Kathryn Cogswell and TMA Staffer Jess Joswick mentors and mentees got a tour of the university that included tips and special information they learned from the guide’s time at Georgetown. The groups got to explore the library, visit a dorm, see the student fitness center and the newly built Business School. After the tour, the group sat down for a panel discussion with current TMA Mentors where they learned what college life is really like. They also got some tips on what they need to do to end up at the right school for them. The day ended with lunch at the Leavy Center. We hope everyone had a great time and that all the TMA students will be ready to return to a college campus soon as enrolled students!

Extra! Extra! Mentor Day Goes to the Newseum!

Saturday, February 5^th, students and mentors ate a hearty breakfast and then boarded buses to the Newseum! At the Newseum, mentees and mentors looked at exhibits and participated in interactive activities like being a reporter at the steps of the Capitol. The most popular exhibits were those about Hurricane Katrina and the gallery of Pulitzer Prize winning photos. While at the Newseum, everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch. Before anyone was ready it was time to leave. The next mentor day is March 5^th and we cannot wait!

Mentor Program Scavenges for Clues at the Zoo

On Saturday, November 13th the Mentor Program traveled to the National Zoo for a digital scavenger hunt. Congratulations to Team ALL STARS (Elana, Earica, John, Chris, Michael, DaQuan, and Roneisha) and Team DeNiyka, Kathryn, Mario, Justin, Tervon, LaQuan, Jazmin and Jordan who tied for first place!

TMA students and mentors work to protect the Anacostia Watershed

On Saturday the Mentor Program worked with Anacostia Watershed Society to build fences in the Anacostia River. These fences are an essential part of maintaining the health of the river. Soon, younger volunteers will trudge out to our fences and plant native species within them. Protected from Canadian Geese by the fencing, plants will grow, add species diversity to the watershed, and provide a natural filter for the river.

This work can only be done during low tide, and with almost 70 strong, the Mentor Program built three fences and repaired a fourth in one two-hour stretch. Oh. And we got real muddy and had some fun.

See?

What? You want more pictures? Fine.

Maryland Day wows the Mentor Program

This past Saturday the Mentor Program participated in our annual college trip by attending Maryland Day.  The event drew over 50,000 people, and we were thrilled to be among the crowd.  The entire campus was engaged in introducing the University of Maryland experience to the general public.

Students watched a rugby match, attended a seminar on getting ready for college, and even did some rock climbing.  Apparently Marquis Williams is part spider, as he climbed the wall in under 5 seconds (unofficial time).  TMA students also had a chance to hang out in the student center, grab a bite to eat, and look over class offerings for various majors.

Our students are going to college.  This trip was a nice reminder that all of the hard work it will take to get there will be worth it.

Hip Hop Summit at TMA

This Saturday, the Mentor Program hosted Words, Beats, & Life for a one-day hip hop summit. Students learned to DJ and break dance, they were introduced to the geometry of graffiti art, and they participated in an MC exhibition in which they performed original poetry. As always, they shined! Many thanks to the mentors and mentees who joined us and to the folks from WBL who helped make it possible.

Mentor Program welcomes Words, Beats, & Life

On March 20th, 2010, the TMA Mentor Program will feature an incredible set of workshops created by Words, Beats, & Life. Watch this video for a taste of what they do:

The District Rhyme Trailer from Words Beats & Life on Vimeo.

extra, extra, read all about it!

There's a lot of hype about the Newseum.  You could spend two days there.  It's the best museum ever.  I love it more than I love my children.  Really folks?  Never having seen it, I was pretty skeptical when we loaded up our four buses and 100 some-odd mentors and mentees.  We arrived about 10:15 this past Saturday morning.

At 12:30, about fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to depart, I was running around furiously to see if we could squeeze in another half hour and mentors and mentees were asking (begging to see) if our tickets were good for 48 hours.  The hype is well-deserved.

From a stunning set of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs on the first floor to the view (at right) from the sixth floor terrace, the place simply did not disappoint.  There are clips from the Daily Show, newspaper headlines from the past two centuries, and everything in between.  Mentors and Mentees gushed about the 4-D theater, the 9/11 exhibit, and the section of the Berlin Wall.  One mentor described this last highlight as "an exhibit that glorifies the breaking of one wall which makes us think of the others that are being built today."

No matter the exhibit, it was the hands-on nature of the whole experience that really moved the group.  Every floor has touchscreens and various ways to engage in the news and the history on display.  None of the exhibits, however, provided more immediate engagement than the Be a TV Reporter station pictured at the top of this page.  In that picture, Keona Archer and Aris Ellison are reporting while their mentors, YaVonne Dubose and Nidhi Patel, look on.  As Courtney Jones explains, "I was able to see a news reporter's point of view and to see how much they had to do.  Being a news reporter and getting out of my comfort zone was fun."

a cool day for the mentor program

As the pictures above indicate, the Mentor Program spent our most recent outing skating on the National Mall. Some highlights...

• Natalia Dunlap and Ayana Bell pursued the buses for miles from the school to the rink, finally catching up, enjoying the day, and even taking in an afternoon film once Mentor Day was over.
• Ashley Everett went from being a slight liability to a full-fledged Olympic skater.
  
• Mache Chase took advantage of friendly hands at every turn.
  
• Dream Jackson and Kyle Morean each performed triple axels (Kyle's got nothing on Dream's gracefulness).
  
• Ta'Zhaun Hunter broke the sound barrier.
• Maurice Ogletree taught his Mentor Wrede Smith how to perform an ice jump.
• Nia Boxley guided Yaida Ford on at least one full loop.
• Derrick Souder took some phenomenal photos.  All but four from the slide show are his!
  
• We all had fun, got numb, fell down, and were helped up before the end of the day.
• Have some of your own recollections? Write a comment below!
  

mentors, mentees, movies, and mindful discussion

The December Mentor Day featured a trip to the beautiful AFI theater in Silver Spring for a private screening of Made in LA, a documentary film about garment workers in Los Angeles.  In the film, the garment workers join together to protest unjust practices used by the clothing store Forever 21 and ultimately win a settlement from the store.  Shot over a period of almost two years, the film served as a nice reminder that change happens slowly.

With the film as motivation, mentors and mentees returned to the school and discussed ways that they could get involved in issues that concern them.  Our April Mentor Day will be focused on service, and the post-movie discussions will likely serve as a foundation for our work.  They even took notes!

We have now had three Mentor Days and we would like to recognize the 19 pairs who have attended all three.  Thank you thank you thank you to these 38 committed participants:

Jameka Anderson and Amy Asheroff
Tamara Brown and Katie Shay
LaQuan Butler and Kimberly Smith
Gianna Canada and Sonia Bacchus
Nia Crawley and Angela Clark
Amber Dixon and Anastasia Brown
Aris Ellison and YaVonne DuBose
Alexis Fenwick and Alexis Gutierrez
Allanxandria Hall and Kristen Aiken
Daveania Jones and Angela Chandler
Courtney Jones and Karen Todd
Malek Latney and Darryl Stevens
Salihah Muhammad and Michelle Morant
Imani Newborn and Patty Kersting
Maurice Ogletree and Wrede Smith
Marcelleus Sanders and Darryl Maxwell
Shayla Simms and Amanda Beaumont
Kyvonne Williams and Joyce Dubin
Nye'al Wise and Emily Berman

This Saturday we will head to the skating rink located on the Downtown Mall for some good cold fashion fun.  Mentor and mentees...see you soon!

The Mentor Program enters its blue period

Not really.  Not really a blue period, that is.  But we DID go to the bowling alley and after about 30 minutes of what seemed like normal bowling, this happened:

And it was awesome.  And it didn't stop anyone from knocking down as many as four or five pins over as few as two or three legitimate attempts with the heavy round ball.  But Obama-like bowling was not all that transpired this past Saturday.  We also split the program up into teams (named after prominent colleges that have accepted our graduates) and had a little healthy competition.  They had a word-scramble, a trivia contest, and a mascot-naming challenge in addition to the bowling.  The current standings are as follows:

First Place: Cornell University (273 points)

Second Place: Howard University (246)

Third Place: Morgan State University (245)

Fourth Place: University of North Carolina (231)

Note: standings are based on attendance, bowling performance, and trivia responses.  Points assigned are entirely arbitrary. 

In addition to this new (healthy!) competition, we have also found a genius photographer in our midst.  Each of the pictures featured on this post was taken by junior Dream Jackson.  She and her mentor, Marissa Zanno, have agreed to spend this year (their second in the program) as Official Photographers!  Many thanks to Dream and Marissa!

So now we have had two stellar mentor days and most of our pairs are well on their ways to great new heights.  On their own, participants are getting out into the community and as a large group we are taking the district by storm.  Next month we head to the movies to see a social action documentary and do some community service planning. 

Stay tuned...and keep those shoes on!

the other 29 days...

Blog readers and members of our Mentor Program are well-aware of the schedule: once a month all of the mentors and mentees get together for 168-person fun. In fact, our next Mentor Day is right around the corner! On November 14th we head to the bowling alley for some healthy competition and some less-than-healthy eating.

But the program does not begin and end on Mentor Days. Oh no. For most of our members, it is the monthly outings away from the program that make the relationship special. Check out some of these awesome outings:

Deja Edmundson (pictured above) and Allison Macbride (speaking)
"We took a trip to U street to do the walking tour. For the 11th grade DC history class Kathryn [Otrosina] had assigned a project on a DC neighborhood. Deja got U street. So, in the pouring rain, we did the whole walking tour. It took a few hours with a stop to Ben's Chili Bowl. She was really into it and we took LOTS

The Mentor Program has left the station

Without fail these three things happen at the first mentor day of each year:

1. An adult is seen running through the school like a teenager.
2. A teenager finds himself or herself showing off the school like a seasoned tour guide.
3. People leave with a sense of purpose and possibility.

As of Saturday, each of these has happened again. Matches have been made anew, and the 2009-2010 Mentor Program is officially underway. Over 130 participants braved the cold and the rain to meet each other and partake in some tried and true get-to-know-you games. We laughed, we quizzed, we scavenged. And I learned a ton...

Get Involved: Mentor one of our sophomores.

It is personal and rich. It is easy to get involved and truly impacts the life of every participant. The TMA Mentor Program is set to begin its eighth year, and now is your chance join. Over the course of the year, we will ice-skate, we will perform community service, we will visit colleges and laugh and learn and all grow up a bit. If you are a TMA sophomore, please sign up! If you are a DC area professional, we'd love to have you mentor one of our students. Mentor applications are available here.

For more information email Scott: sguggenheimer@tmapchs.org

When programs connect...

This is a picture of Erin and Symone Smith from our November Mentor Day excursion to Sharp's Farm in Maryland. Erin and Symone participated in the 2008-2009 Mentor Program, traveling to various Mentor Day events throughout the year and forming a relationship while spending time together on their own.

At right is a picture of Symone and Senator Byron Dorgan taken during the TMA Job Shadow Day program. Symone's mentor Erin works for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs headed by Sen. Dorgan. Erin arranged for Symone to spend the day working in Sen. Dorgan's office as part of our Job Shadow program.

This is a great example of what can happen our students form relationships with community members: our programs ultimately become better and more fulfilling for everyone involved.

Erin and Symone, you rock.