I Am 1 of 100,000

I signed up to be "1 of 100,000" (www.be1kc.org), a Campaign to get 100,000 adults invested in the lives of students in the Kansas City, Missouri public school district. The Campaign believes, that based on research, every child, including the 20,000 in KCMO schools, need 5 personal, caring relationships with adults to succeed in school and life. The Kansas City, MO school district has been plagued in recent years with all sorts of problems- budget shortfalls, a revolving door of superintendents, discord between teachers and the Board of Education, "failing" schools, violence, etc, etc. Much like in Atlanta, many white families and families-of-wealth send their children to private school in order to avoid the "terrible" public schools. This new campaign, envisioned and initiated by an amazing community organizer and school board member, aims to create relationships between students and adults in the community. This goal of this campaign is not only to support our young scholars and help them succeed, but also to build a critical mass of adult community members invested in the success of our school district. There are a variety of pre-established programs one can sign up with to mentor a student directly in the school.

Today I met my mentoree. I won't write much about her here, as I of course want to protect her privacy. However, it was fantastic! All week long I've been exclaiming to my household, "I'm soo excited to meet my MentorFriend!" I was a little bit nervous meeting my mentoree for the first time. Would we connect? Would she like me? Would she want to engage with me or was she signed up for the program because someone made her? What would be talk about? I had all the same worries and curiosities as if I was back in middle-school!

When I arrived at her school today, the Mentor Coordinator told me my Mentoree had been asking for a MentorFriend for months and was excited to meet me. We sat down for lunch together, and all my worries were put aside. She chatted nearly non-stop. Her family is very central in her life, so we talked about both having large families and missing our family members who live far away. She is incredibly thoughtful, friendly and talkative, and our half our lunch flew by. As I was getting ready to leave, she asked me several times if I would be coming back next week. Of course I will be coming back! I've made a commitment to you, and I'm in it for the long haul.

It's a simple thing to do- to sign-up to be a mentor. I look forward to getting to know this young woman better and learning what she has to teach, listening to what she has to say. And I'm thrilled to be able to say, I am 1 of 100,00!