student 1 Step 2: The next morning, Canvas will assign everyone three project first drafts to peer review. Peer reviews are due Thursday, May 30th at 11:59 pm. For each draft you peer review, you must
McGilvery 1 Kennedy McGilvery Professor Pang English 102 27 May 2024 Mentorship Matters PICTURE HOOK/A TTENTION As a young kid, my father used to tell me and my brother about the juveniles he worked with. For 18 years, he worked as a residential probation of ficer at Eco Glen Children’ s Center and for the Department of Corrections. I listened to their stories, how they got there, the people they surrounded themselves with, their upbringings, and where they went wrong. But a majority of the time, we missed the part about the solution of the problem. How it could have been avoided, how they were impacted by their surroundings, what caused them to make their bad decesions, their community involvement, and what support would have created a dif ferent outcome. As people, we tend to focus on the outcome and not the steps that it took to arrive there. W e forget how much our surroundings impact our future. Over the many years of listening to my dad’ s stories, I learned to be grateful for the people who serve as mentors in my life. NEED The city of T acoma faces many challenges due to the lack of mentorship and resources for young adults. The strength of a person who stays consistent throughout another ’s life has an impact to completely change the trajectory of it. Without community or mentorship from another , we can fail to hold ourselves accountable, be given proper McGilvery 2 guidance for success, and take the risk of relying on our own inexperienced knowledge. Many T acoma students fail to find these types of mentors and fall into the trap of feeling unprepared after graduation. Lacking resources, financial advice, tutoring services, job guidance, future planning skills, and other resources that our schools fail to teach us. With the growth of poverty in the Pierce County area, many students may lack the resources needed daily for school, work, and life. These students are uncontrollably set behind without access to these resources. These underserved students miss out on their education due to something they cannot fix. According to Gitnux , “ It highlights the fact that many students are graduating without the necessary skills to navigate the world of work, leaving them ill-prepared for the challenges of adulthood. This is a worrying trend that needs to be addressed if we are to ensure that our young people are equipped with the tools they need to succeed. ” (“High School Students Unprepared for Life Statistics [Fresh Research] • Gitnux”) Some programs in the area reach to address these issues. T o begin, there is a T acoma organization that currently works to help students called the B3 Foundation. The foundation provides backpacks filled with school supplies for underserved students. The program works to build up communities by giving students mentors, encouraging community engagement, and providing scholarships. It states that its mission is to, “B etter futures and stronger communities for students to grow and thrive in. Communities filled with hopeful, engaged and empowered young leaders who are supported by committed and empathetic adults” ( What W e Do – B3 Foundation .) Another organization that works is the T acoma organization called Friends of the Children, which connects children with a mentor . These mentors work to support children from ages as young as four through high school McGilvery 3 graduates. Providing long-term support and guiding young people through their early decisions. Their project is “evidence-informed and researched based” on what works best with other organizations. The impacts of mentorship on young people and how it can change the trajectory of a person’ s life. (T acoma, “About”) Something these programs still lack are the aspects of The combination of missing mentorship and the lack of resources leaves young adults with one option. That option is to figure it out on their own. I have learned through my dad’ s stories that “figuring it out” may not lead to the path we desire. SA TISF ACTION/ SOLUTIONS As proven by Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences, “A protected relationship in which a more knowledgeable or experienced person guides and nurtures the professional development or growth of another .” (“What Is Mentorship?”) A center for T acoma students and young adults is what I image for the solution to this problem. A place where students could have access to the resources they need and the chance to find a mentor . Here students could find a community that supports them and that is invested in their future. Knowing the budget of the Spark Grant, I think the best solution is to have the center at a school or community center . The center could be run by post-grad students looking for flexible jobs with the possibility of them being in college. A community of young people supports other young people to further their success.McGilvery 4 VISUALIZA TION PICTURE- WITHOUT Without this program, we risk underserving our growing community of youth. Possibly putting them on a path, where they do not understand the outcomes and have no community pushing them to be better . At some point, these decisions can become stories that others tell to keep them on the right path. The stories mentors tell their mentees, the stories people tell their friends, and the stories my dad told me. Not to say every young adult without the right mentorship and resources leads to criminal behavior , but that people who have a community , consistent support, and the proper guidance are able to push themselves further than imaginable. PICTURE- WITH ACTION T o take action towards this ongoing issue of lack of resources and a need for mentorship for young adults in T acoma, I propose my idea of Mentorship Matters to the Spark Grant Project board.
McGilvery 5 W orks Cited “High School Students Unprepared for Life Statistics [Fresh Research] • Gitnux.” GITNUX , 16 Dec. 2023, gitnux.org/high-school-students-unprepared-for-life-statistics/#:~:text=What%20a re%20the%20top%20three,exposure%20to%20real%2Dworld%20experiences. What we do .
B3 Foundation. (n.d.). https://b3foundation.org/what-we-do/ “About.” Friends of the Children - T acoma , 31 Aug. 2020, friendstacoma.org/about . “What Is Mentorship?” Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences , cs.lbl.gov/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/csa-mentoring-program/what-is-mentorsh ip/#:~:text=Mentorship%20is%20a%20protected%20relationship,normal%20man ager%2Fsubordinate%20line%20management .
