[DEC. 16, 2000]  Lincoln Daily News introduces you to YMCA mentors Larry Crisafulli and Margaret Peifer.

[click here for Part 2]

Dr. Larry Crisafulli, a local dentist, has been mentoring for about a year. Dr. Crisafulli has been on the YMCA board since its beginning six or seven years ago, and that is how he learned about the mentoring program. Crisafulli has had several mentors in his life: his father, his grandfather, a coach in high school and most recently his wife. One day a week he meets with Jeremy at school. They work on one of Jeremy’s school assignments. Jeremy participates in a few sports teams, and Crisafulli makes an effort to attend Jeremy’s games. They do not participate in the monthly social activities sponsored by the Y, because Jeremy is older than most of the mentored students and would feel out of place.

As a mentor, Crisafulli wants to "help Jeremy if I can in any way." He wants to be another positive male figure in his life, even though he knows Jeremy already has a few. Crisafulli enjoys mentoring Jeremy and says that they get along really well. As in any relationship, there are occasional disappointments, because — just like adults — kids make mistakes. But occasional disappointments do not deter Crisafulli, and he plans to continue working with Jeremy, "as long as [he] wants me there." According to Crisafulli, "The pay is great!" He personally finds mentoring very rewarding and therapeutic. Once he even commented that Jeremy was mentoring him.

Dr. Crisafulli complimented the YMCA’s mentoring training. The training is broad, but one must remember: "It’s not an exact science, every case is different." He believes that the broad training lays a foundation to help mentors develop a suitable relationship with their student.

Crisafulli encourages anyone interested in mentoring to try it. He realizes that it may not be for everyone, but he believes that most people would enjoy mentoring, as he does. "If you like being with people, it’s worth trying," he says.

Margaret Peifer was recruited to be a mentor by a YMCA board member three years ago. Peifer retired from the Logan Correctional Center, where she worked as a teacher, and is now a part-time professor at Robert Morris College in Springfield and Millikin University in Decatur. Peifer describes herself as "easily inspired," so she named several mentors in her life: her grandmother, a few English teachers and Libby Scribe, "a woman who is 92 and keeps on going."

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Peifer’s first student was Becky. Becky’s family has moved out of town, but Peifer had a visit from her just this Halloween. After Becky left, Margaret Peifer took on a new student, Cathy. Peifer’s goals as a mentor are to see that Cathy "does well in school and feels good about herself." Recently, Cathy received a prize for having all of her homework done, all week long. Peifer exclaimed, "I was just thrilled!"

Once a week, on Fridays, Peifer meets with Cathy to work on homework at school. They attend the Y’s social activities together. Peifer commented that Cathy just loved the recent bowling trip. Peifer attended Cathy’s school open house and plans to see this year’s Christmas program. With Cathy’s mother’s permission, sometimes Margaret Peifer brings Cathy to her farm to work on art projects. She used to take Becky to community concerts and shopping at Wal-Mart. Peifer loves having children around because she considers them to be a real gift. She does not have children or grandchildren of her own, so she enjoys borrowing other people’s children for an afternoon.

For anyone interested in mentoring, Peifer suggests, "Be sure that you have the time to be consistent." If for some reason Peifer cannot make a mentoring session, she sends a short note to Cathy on the day they would have met, to encourage her.

Peifer compliments the Y on their availability to answer questions and on their training program. For example, the training session presented legal information specific to the mentor-student relationship that she did not already know. However, she believes that most of her training — and the training for all the other mentors — occurred before the mentoring training session. "You have to believe that you can do it…because the students will watch you carefully the first few meetings, and slowly warm up to you."

Are you interested in being a mentor for a student? Anyone who is at least in high school can be a mentor. If you are a positive role model for others and have 30 minutes a week to spend with a student, please contact Sarah Farris at the Lincoln area YMCA, 735-3915.

[Jean Ann Carnley]

[DEC. 15, 2000]  Lincoln Daily News introduces you to YMCA mentors Diane Campbell and Terry Brown.

Diane Campbell, co-owner of Lincoln’s NAPA Auto Parts, has been mentoring for two years. She signed up for the program after attending a meeting at her church, Immanuel Lutheran. Campbell, who works with Sara on her schoolwork, says, "It’s going very well this year." Campbell helped Sara catch up in her work when she fell a little behind at school last year. As a mentor, Campbell’s goal is "to build self-esteem, confidence, a sense of responsibility, as well as help [Sara] with her school work, and to be her friend." Campbell wants to be "the one person she can count on if she needs someone."

Once a week Campbell meets with Sara to work on homework and school tests. They also discuss responsibility in Sara’s home life. Campbell and Sara attend the monthly social activities at the Y. Some of their favorite events are going bowling and game night at the Y.

Sara’s mom is glad her daughter is in the mentoring program. Campbell says that it is so helpful to have the support of a student’s family and teachers, and she has had both. Diane Campbell plans to continue mentoring. She enjoys bonding with her student and likes to see her succeed at school.

Campbell definitely recommends that anyone interested in being a mentor get involved, because it’s "100 percent worthwhile!" She says that the people are wonderful to work with at the Y. According to Campbell, mentors receive more rewards than they can imagine. "It’s well worth the time invested in it," she says. She admits that mentoring does become an important part of one’s life.

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Diane Campbell recruited Terry Brown for the mentoring program. Brown, president of Lincoln’s State Bank, began mentoring at the beginning of this school year. After hearing Campbell discuss the rewards and needs of the program, Brown called the YMCA and signed up to be a mentor. Brown’s goal as a mentor is "mainly to try to improve the quality of life for the person who I mentor." Brown considers his boss, George Drake, his mentor.

Each Friday afternoon, Terry Brown and Jacob meet at Jacob’s school. Their mentoring sessions include character building and schoolwork. They talk about Jacob’s schoolwork and "how things are going for him." Brown believes that the mentoring is going great. He sees Jacob progressing in his schoolwork and enjoys being around him because he’s "a really neat kid." Jacob has had fun at the Y’s social activities, especially at the Dec. 2 bowling trip.

When asked if there were any disappointments in being a mentor, Brown quickly responded, "None!" Brown plans to continue mentoring and encourages others to get involved. He stressed, "There is a real need, especially for male adults." Brown is confident that participation is very rewarding to the mentor, and it does not require a lot of time. He said that the mentoring training session was excellent, and the program overall is "very, very good."

(To be continued)

[Jean Ann Carnley]

[click here for Part 3]

[DEC. 14, 2000]  You’ve heard it or said it or at least thought it: "What a pity. With a little guidance he/she could have been so much more!"

    We could say times have changed since the day that families lived close to one another and lent support and strength to each other. No longer is extended family available for most families to help care for and foster the guidance of children. With this loss of unity also goes the loss of less tangible family strengths. This would be a true statement.

However, there are numerous examples throughout history that there have always been individuals who have given themselves to the guidance of youth, as is evidenced by the word mentor.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines mentor as:
1 capitalized: a friend of Odysseus entrusted with the education of Odysseus' son Telemachus
2 a : a trusted counselor or guide b : tutor, coach
- men·tor·ship  noun

To say we need this influence on our youth today is as much or more than ever true.

[Jan Youngquist]

Part 1

The Lincoln Area YMCA’s mentoring program is in its third year. The mentoring program is designed "to match adults who are good role models with children who are in need of one-on-one time with a mentor." Mentors build relationships with their students by meeting for at least 30 minutes per week.

The mentoring program was originally suggested by Bridget Miller as a part of the goals of the 21^st Century Community Learning Center Project. Miller modeled Lincoln’s program after a program in Quincy. At the beginning, the mentoring program served students at Northwest and Washington-Monroe schools only, because they already had after-school programs. Now, all of the elementary schools and the junior high participate in the mentoring program.

Sarah Farris is the program’s director. She is in charge of recruiting and training mentors, matching mentors with students, and coordinating the YMCA’s monthly mentoring social events. Sarah believes that the mentoring program is "going very well." Recently she trained seven new mentors and matched 11 mentors with 11 students. She still has a few unmatched mentors and students but is confident that they will soon be able to be paired.

The YMCA has tried writing letters and running news advertisements to recruit new mentors, but most mentors come by word of mouth. Farris says that the best recruiters so far have been YMCA board members and individuals who are already mentors. Whenever Farris gets a list of four to six prospects, she schedules a training session. She usually has four or five training sessions per year, each session being two hours. The training focuses on child abuse, abuse prevention and the characteristics of a good mentor. Each mentor’s name is run through the Illinois Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System.

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Any child may be mentored. There are no requirements, positive or negative. Either parents or teachers may recommend a child to the YMCA. For students to be admitted to the program, they only need a signed permission form from their parents.

Farris uses questions on the mentor application to help her match mentors to students based on their common interests. Her goal is to match the gender of mentor and student, but that is not always possible because the mentor male-to-female ratio is not the same as the student male-to-female ratio. Often, time availability is the main issue that Farris uses to pair mentors and students.

The Y only requires mentors and students to meet for a half hour per week but strongly encourages both of them to attend monthly social events at the YMCA. During these social events, such as bowling, chili and game night, and skating parties, mentors and students relax and have fun with each other and with other mentor-student pairs. The YMCA is limited to doing activities in town because they do not have a bus to transport the students.

The Y asks mentors to commit to mentoring their students for a year. The longest mentoring relationship so far is 14 months. Presently, three groups have been meeting for 14 months.

(To be continued — In future postings, Lincoln Daily News will introduce you to some of the mentors in Lincoln.)

[Jean Ann Carnley]

[click here for Part 2]

[DEC. 7, 2000]  There once was a time when principals and teachers had to call parents in to the school to discuss a child’s disciplinary or academic shortfall. But these days, parents of Lincoln District 27 elementary students frequently visit their child’s school to help teachers and administrators enhance the educational process.

[click here for Part 2]

Across town, the School Community Council at Northwest School has focused in on its goal of improving study habits. One program it has initiated helps more children complete their homework on time and without error.

Every Tuesday afternoon all students are invited into the air-conditioned library to attend Homework Club. It is a quiet place where students can enjoy a snack, and then work independently on their homework or request help from teachers and parents on duty. They can take advantage of reference resources like encyclopedias and the Internet, which might not be available in the home.

[Teacher Cindy Aussieker passes out snacks donated by parents to students at Homework Club.]

An average of 20 children attend the Homework Club each week. Some students come to the Homework Club because their teacher has recommended it. Others come because they want to. Many of the children have expressed that they wish Homework Club would be available every afternoon of the week.

Learning disabilities teacher and SCC member Cindy Aussieker spearheaded the club and was overwhelmed by the parents’ response to it. "Right after school started they brought in enough cookies, crackers and drink boxes to last through the first semester." She also has a list of a dozen parents who are willing to come in for an hour and help the students with their homework. "Some of the parents who have signed up haven’t really been involved in school activities before!" exclaimed Aussieker. "We’ve even had a few fathers volunteer."

Hosting the popular homework club has helped make Northwest a true "school community" where parents feel more comfortable coming into the school to assist with their children’s education.

According to Aussieker, the idea for a homework club grew out of the teachers’ frustration with student excuses as to why homework had not been completed. Aussieker believes distractions in the home, along with greater involvement of kids and parents in outside activities, are the root of many homework problems.

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[Homework Club is a great time for snack and study.]

"Sometimes the student just doesn’t understand the homework, and the parents don’t have the educational background to help," adds Aussieker.

Since the initiation of the homework club, Aussieker has heard proud children come up to her and say, "I got all my homework done."

The homework program at Washington-Monroe has shared similar success. This is the third year the school has maintained a homework policy that included planner books and homework folders for all students. A flag is proudly displayed outside of the classroom that earns the highest percentage of completed homework each week. A traveling trophy also accompanies the honor. At the end of the year, Principal Cecil will host a party for the class that has earned the recognition most frequently.

[Michele Vermeire is a stay-at-home mom and parent of a Northwest School student. She is at Homework Club every Tuesday afternoon to help other students like Kody Swartz with their homework.]

Fifth and sixth graders on the newly formed Washington-Monroe Student Council have shared responsibility for the school’s success by helping younger students pack their homework folders and backpacks every afternoon. This is an example of "intragenerational association," another conceptual task of the SCC.

After just a few weeks of recognizing homework achievement, Cecil says more students are prepared for class each day and are now earning scores worthy of the honor roll.

All five of the School Community Councils in District 27 have determined their own goals and have taken different routes to achieving their goals. That is what site-based decision making is all about. While Northwest and Washington-Monroe School Community Council’s have focused on study skills and responsibility, other schools might focus on respect of others, or math and science skills.

[Americorps volunteer Amy Sherwood helps Brandy McCain with some geography homework.]

Each school’s parents, teachers and administrators are directly responsible for building stronger minds and characters of the students at that school.

Dr. Robert Kidd, superintendent of District 27 schools, sees more parents getting involved in the schools because the SCCs and their subcommittees engage parents for solid purposes other than fund-raising. "They are now getting into the meat of the educational process," adds Superintendent Kidd.

[DEC. 6, 2000]  There once was a time when principals and teachers had to call parents in to the school to discuss a child’s disciplinary or academic shortfall. But these days, parents of Lincoln District 27 elementary students frequently visit their child’s school to help teachers and administrators enhance the educational process.

Students at Washington-Monroe will soon begin a creative project that will require participation from individual school families during school vacations. The School Community Council, along with several local businesses, is sponsoring a literature garden to be planted this spring. Each grade level will assume responsibility for a small garden plot filled with plants symbolic of stories they have read. It will be a cross-curricular tool that draws in lessons from science, geography, history and mathematics. The garden will also teach responsibility, as the students will share the workload for planting, watering and weeding throughout the growing season.

Mrs. Cecil says that the School Community Council at Washington-Monroe has helped her start new projects that she has always wanted to launch but never had the time. Now, she has a team to help carry the load, and input from parents and teachers on how new projects could be done. Candy Boulb was an active member of the Washington-Monroe PTO before she was asked to be a parent representative on the School Community Council. She has found that she now knows a lot more about what her third grade son is learning and doing in school when she communicates and shares ideas with teachers and administrators. She is able to serve other parents by being better informed herself. "The SCC is just great for the communication of ideas and goals — the teachers’ and the parents’," says Boulb.

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[Mrs. Farwell's first grade class at Washington-Monroe proudly displays the traveling trophy and flag they were awarded for having the highest percentage of completed homework out of all classrooms last week.]

The School-Home Communication Committee, a subgroup of the SCC, developed a new system for improving the communication between the school and parents. Teachers send home family folders the second and fourth Monday of every month with the oldest child in each family. The folders open up a consistent line of communication between the school and parents, and eliminate many parents’ frustrations with receiving multiple copies of every note and newsletter. Parents are then given an opportunity to communicate back with the teachers. A parent-to-parent bulletin board placed just inside the front door is also promoting more communication among parents.

A second subgroup of the SCC, the Parent and Teacher Education Committee, determines the need for teacher and parent in-service training. Kate Ewing, a teacher and member of the SCC, coordinates the parent education program. The school offers courses for parents on topics like "improving your child’s study habits" and "reading to your child." Each course is led by a previously trained parent.

(To be continued)

[Marty Ahrends]

[click here for Part 3]

[DEC. 5, 2000]  There once was a time when principals and teachers had to call parents in to the school to discuss a child’s disciplinary or academic shortfall. But these days, parents of Lincoln District 27 elementary students frequently visit their child’s school to help teachers and administrators enhance the educational process.

All schools within District 27 are engaging parents as full partners with teachers in helping students meet academic and character goals. School Community Councils (SCC) are the engines that drive these partnerships. They have grown out of a District 27 Board of Education plan to improve student achievement. Site-based decision making was a key part of the plan. The SCC puts the administration, teachers and parents around the same table, in a structure that encourages them to make decisions on behalf of their own students and children.

Members of the School Community Councils meet twice a month and are guided by a training manual that helps them to establish four goals and expectations for each school. Two of the goals are academic, dealing with studying, reading, communication and the like. The other two goals revolve around character issues like respect and responsibility. These goals cover the area where the responsibilities of the school and the home overlap.

Washington-Monroe Elementary School Community Council has adopted the goals of studying, reading, respect and responsibility. After defining each goal, the Washington-Monroe SCC developed a set of "expectations" for parents, teachers and students for each goal. A School Community Compact that is distributed to all parents summarizes the goals and expectations. It then becomes the joint responsibility of teachers, parents and the students themselves to ensure that studying and reading skills are enhanced, students are accepting more responsibility for their personal success, and students show more respect to adults and peers.

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[Principal Rebecca Cecil displays a copy of the goals and expectations outlined by the Washington-Monroe SCC.]

Washington-Monroe Principal Rebecca Cecil says, "The parents buy into these expectations when they are part of the decision-making process, and when they see other parents involved in the decision making."

Involving parents is the key to success for the SCC. Mrs. Cecil says that she is seeing more parents come to Washington-Monroe Elementary School during the day, not just to have lunch with their children, but to help with special activities at the school and in the classroom. Some parents are even taking time off from work to share their careers or special hobbies with the students. Parents have a better understanding of their role in their child’s education because the School Community Compact spells out their responsibilities clearly.

(To be continued)

[Marty Ahrends]

[click here for Part 2]

Announcements

School menus

Lincoln District 27

Breakfast menu

Christmas vacation:
Friday, Dec. 22, through Monday, Jan. 1

Tuesday, Jan. 2
Cereal
Toast with jelly
Juice
Milk

 Wednesday, Jan. 3
Silver dollar pancakes
Sausage patty
Fruit
Milk

Thursday, Jan. 4
Cereal
Cinnamon toast
Juice
Milk

Friday, Jan. 5
Oatmeal
Toast
Fruit
Milk

Monday, Jan. 8
Cereal
Graham crackers
Juice
Milk

Tuesday, Jan. 9
Apple pie
Juice
Milk

Wednesday, Jan. 10
Cereal
Peanut butter sandwich
Juice
Milk

Thursday, Jan. 11
Breakfast pizza
Fruit
Milk

Friday, Jan. 12 — No school; teacher workshop

Lunch menu

(Milk served with all meals)

Christmas vacation:
Friday, Dec. 22, through Monday, Jan. 1

Tuesday, Jan. 2
Hamburger on bun with cheese
French fries
Peas
Applesauce

Wednesday, Jan. 3
Sausage pizza
Corn
Pudding
Fruit cocktail

Thursday, Jan. 4
Chicken nuggets with sauce
Mashed potatoes
Bread and butter
Peaches

Friday, Jan. 5
Chili with crackers
Peanut butter sandwich
Dill spears
Pears
Pumpkin bars

Monday, Jan. 8
Hot dog on bun
Baked beans
Goldfish crackers
Cherry cobbler

Tuesday, Jan. 9
Max cheese sticks with sauce
Green beans
Carrot sticks
Fruit cocktail

Wednesday, Jan. 10
Chicken and biscuit
Lettuce salad
Jello
Pears

Thursday, Jan. 11
Sloppy Joes
Cole slaw
French fries
Peaches

Friday, Jan. 12 — No school; teacher workshop

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