Mentors and Mentees STRIVE Toward the Future

Maybe it was a parent. Or a grandparent. Perhaps it was a teacher. Or someone from church who always made a little time for you. Whoever it was, most of us have someone who we looked up to and who served as a mentor to us at some stage of our life.

Now in its third year, the Rosemount Rotary Club’s STRIVE mentorship program with Rosemount High School kicked off at the Fireside on Friday, Oct. 5. The program is designed to pair RHS students with Rosemount Rotarians to embark on a seven-month process of exploring higher education and career options, goal-setting and other skills designed to prepare them for life after high school.

“As our students are learning to make tough decisions about life beyond high school, it is so rewarding to have adults that are willing to share their stories of how they made their personal journey,” said RHS High School Assistant Principal Kim Budde. “It is valuable for our kids to learn that everyone's journey is different.  Each student has a new set of ears to hear to what their hopes and fears are as they begin this process-someone who knows them now and for what they dream they will become, not by the journey they have taken to get to this point.  For many, it is like a fresh start and that is what they need to push forward on a journey that may have begun to stagnate in their senior year.”

At the kick-off event, students, their family and friends, and mentors met for the first time and signed an agreement committing both the student and the mentor to the STRIVE process over the next seven months.

“We always have a lot of interest from students in getting involved with this program,” said Rosemount Rotary and STRIVE Co-Chair Lisa Lusk. “Hosting the kick-off event and signing the agreement is a formal way of helping our students and mentors understand and commit to the process.”

As part of the agreement, students are required to attend at least 90% of the meetings and work to enhance their grade point average. If they are successful in achieving these criteria, they are eligible one or more scholarships when the STRIVE program concludes in May 2013.

This year’s mentors and mentees include: Bill Droste mentoring Kim Iraketa, Jim Friend mentoring Yee Vang, Mike Johnson mentoring Tom Olson, David Block mentoring Chris Sorenson, Duane Olson mentoring Andre Thomas, Stephanie Olson mentoring Teresa Martin, Joan Rusco mentoring Jessie Merrill, Erin Edlund mentoring Cindy Rivera and Stacey Bartelson mentoring Javonna Johnson.