Winning Futures – Inspiring and preparing youth to succeed through mentoring.

Posts Tagged ‘positive relationships’

A student works on her Identity Box.

This activity is used to reinforce that values play a role in the make-up of a person’s personal identity.

First, have the students identify several unique character and personal values.  Examples of character values would be accountability, honesty, compassion, etc.  Personal values would be things like family, friendship and health.   Based upon their answers, have the students think of available items they can place in their boxes to represent their values, qualities, and interests/abilities.  Encourage the students to be creative and imaginative when using the materials available.

After the students decide on the items they would like to use in their boxes, give each a shoe box to decorate.  The end product will be an “identity box” that reflects the student’s values, interests, and qualities.  An additional option for this activity is to have participants write a paper describing their identity boxes.

At the end of the session, ask students to share their boxes with the group.  After a few have shared with the group, explain to the group that just like each person’s identity box represents only that person, everyone is unique and special.  Tell students that knowing their values and staying true to those is one of the most important decisions they can make: a decision that will build pride and confidence in their personal identity for a lifetime.

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham and one of his mentor team members show off the bird feeders they made for their community service project.

Winning Futures’ students began exploring the benefits of participating in community service this week. Working alongside their mentors, students undertook a variety of projects such as:

• Creating custom flower pots for donation to American House senior living center.
• Making teddy bears and pillows for distribution to the Walton Wood Senior Living Center.
• Crafting pillows for various homeless shelters.
• Making Fleece Blankets for Day House, a Detroit-based homeless shelter.
• Building bird feeders for area environmental groups.
• Making “friendship bracelet” craft kids for patients at Children’s Hospital.

“We want to teach students that volunteerism and helping out in your community is a win-win situation,” said Winning Futures’ Vice President and Program Director Laurie Tarter. “It demonstrates to schools and employers the individual’s strength of character and willingness to ‘give back,’ while making the volunteer feel good about making a positive difference in somebody else’s life.”

After the lesson and activities were completed, students were encouraged to continue seeking out community service and volunteer opportunities on their own.

Winning Futures students from Warren, Michigan’s Community High School recently visited Oakland University (OU). This annual tour illustrates Winning Futures’ Achieving Success workbook lessons on the benefits of continuing education and career goal-setting.

While at OU, students went on a peer-guided tour to experience college’s academic and social environment, including:

• Lecture halls and science labs
• Campus bookstore and library
• Student newspaper and radio station
• Financial aid and admission offices
• Student Union and dormitories.

Students rounded out their day by dining in the campus cafeteria.

“This experience opened a lot of students’ eyes to the fact that college is an option for them,” said Winning Futures’ Vice President and Program Facilitator Laurie Tarter. “In fact, while on our visit, I bumped into four Winning Futures alumni who were currently attending OU. They told me they’d never considered continuing education past high school before taking part in last year’s tour!”

Education and career goal-setting are just a few of the important lessons taught through Winning Futures’ Achieving Success workbooks. To learn more about this unique curriculum, click on the “Purchase Books” button at left.

Winning Futures’ students began exploring the benefits of participating in community service this week. Working alongside their mentors, students undertook a variety of projects such as:

• Creating custom flower pots for donation to American House senior living center
• Making teddy bears and pillows for distribution to the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team and the Ronald McDonald House
• Crafting awareness ribbons for the Greater Detroit Chapter of Child Help foster care program.

“We want to teach students that volunteerism and helping out in your community is a win-win situation,” said Winning Futures’ Vice President and Program Director Laurie Tarter. “It demonstrates to schools and employers the individual’s strength of character and willingness to ‘give back,’ while making the volunteer feel good about making a positive difference in somebody else’s life.”
After the lesson and activities were completed, students were encouraged to continue seeking out community service and volunteer opportunities on their own.

Encouraging academic success is an important component of Winning Futures’ curriculum, but the development of “Life Skills” is another.  Students recently explored this subject by participating in several community service projects.

Each mentor group adopted a community service project to benefit a specific cause.  By doing so, students discovered how volunteering can help others and themselves through benefits such as:

• Synergy – Volunteers bring about improvement in their lives by becoming more connected to friends and family, being happier and having a more positive outlook on life in general.
• Education – Teens often gain new skills and find new career opportunities through community service. The experiences gained in volunteer settings provide teens with skills in leadership and decision-making. These assets look attractive on college and scholarship applications.
• Personality – Volunteers learn about respect and kindness through community service. Teens in particular develop a better appreciation for the “little things” in life and also gain the personal satisfaction of knowing they have made a difference.
• Employment – Besides finding new career opportunities, volunteering also provides teens with other skills necessary in the job market such as communication and interpersonal skills.

This important “Life Skills” lesson is outlined in Winning Futures’ “Achieving Success” workbook. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

Just saying the word “test” can cause a student’s stress level to rise. Fortunately, by using some of the techniques Winning Futures’ has developed and outlined in its curriculum and workbooks, students can alleviate this stress, improve their test-taking ability and increase their grades.

According to Winning Futures’ Program Facilitator Taquaryl Franklin, “70-percent of Winning Futures’ students improve their test scores and overall grades by at least half a grade over six weeks.” Some of the techniques used to achieve these extraordinary results are:

• Studying early and regularly as opposed to “cramming.”
• Carefully reading course materials and test directions.
• Using tricks such as acronyms to aid memory retention.

Tips such as these – and many more – can be found in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” workbook. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

Winning Futures and Detroit Public Schools kicked-off a new pilot program at Cass Technical High School on March 1. At the first session, mentors and mentees met each other at a “break the ice session.” Mentors took five minutes to introduce themselves to each group of students to demonstrate the inaugural session’s underlying theme: The importance of synergy – i.e. forming relationships – in a professional setting.

As many research studies and business experts can attest, synergy is a vital component in successful business dealings and professional advancement. In an article entitled The Benefits and Challenges of Team Collaboration, business management and human services expert Bruce Tyson stated that those who emphasize fostering synergy in day-to-day activities “create results that are greater than what can be achieved working independently. Among other things… synergies can be manifested in reduced costs, increased capabilities, and more flexibility to adapt to changing requirements.”

This introductory exercise introduced Cass Tech students to the Winning Futures’ curriculum outlined in our unique, professionally developed handbook for high-school students, Achieving Success: A Guide to Designing Your Future. In the weeks to come, students will explore further topics such as self exploration, career options and long-term goal-setting.

All these lessons, along with accompanying exercises and development tools, are available for you to utilize through our special collection of workbooks for middle and high-school students. These are available for purchase through our website by clicking here. Check them out today to see how Winning Futures can help you help your students achieve their goals and live up to their full potential!

When a student shares emotional or confidential information with you, keep the following in mind: 

Guidelines for maintaining a young person’s confidences

• Respect their privacy
• Don’t share with others what they have told you about him/herself

Guidelines for deciding whether to break confidentiality

• If what you heard or experience feels “wrong” to you, contact staff member ASAP
• If you are not sure, ask

You MUST break confidentiality when you have a “Red Flag” issue 

• The young person’s safety or someone else’s safety is in danger, or
• An illegal activity is involved

Did you have a mentor in your life?

Why did you decide to become a mentor?

Share your mentoring story!

With the 2011-2012 school year off to a great start at Winning Futures, we welcome new mentors to our program!

Veteran mentors – do you have any mentoring advice that you have found works well for you?  If so, please share!