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As a teenager and young adult I was a Girl Scout, Girl Scout Leader, babysitter, preschool teacher, and Sunday School Teacher, in addition, of course, to being an older sibling to two sisters J. However, I was in High School when I learned firsthand the importance of mentoring: my best friend was a Big Sister in the Big Brother, Big Sister Program. After school, a few times a month, we would walk down to a local Elementary School (where my friend’s...

This is the blog I did not want to have to write. The end, the finish, the buck stops here. But in all sadness and ending comes newness and bright futures. It is with a heavy heart I say that the Lionville Middle School did not take first place at regional’s, but they did place 3 rd , and if you think about it, first year for the school, for the teacher and for myself, the mentor…..that’s pretty impressive. There were 52 schools...

As I write this, this students may be working on the model. I don't know for sure, and I won't know until Saturday. As far as I am involved, it is all up to them now. They are no longer meeting during class time, and even if they meet after school, I get out of the office much later than they get done class. The last thing I saw on Monday, was a bunch of buildings that needed to be placed, electrical connections that need tape and solder,...

Lionville Middle School has a unique way of adding things up. Special thanks to Principal Ross for making it all possible!. When you add 1 teacher and 1 mentor and multiply their efforts by 16 students. Then take that total and divide it across 6 hours, divide 6 pizzas among these people, what does that give you? Besides 4 pairs of Uggs getting painted and a lot of laughing? A very productive day!! That's what. Let me explain, this past Friday...

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Jon Ross, the principal of Lionville Middle School this past week. I must say, the reason the students are excited, is because the teachers are excited, and the teachers are excited, is because Jon is excited. Although a few minutes late, I walked in to the class where all of the Future Cities engineering has been happening and Jon was at the front of the room speaking to the students. It was evident from the first...

The weekend came and went, and Monday found me back in class. The students wanted to ensure they could successfully copy their city to CD, so it can be submitted in the coming days. With a successful copy and test of the file to CD, it was on to the next phase. Mr. Raine assigned the students a brainstorming task. It was a series of 6 questions about their Future City. Questions like; What is the name of your city, What is the most distinctive feature...

Being a mentor affords me the opportunity to give back to the community. There’s a great sense of satisfaction and value that you as a mentor feel when you’re off the bench and in the game impacting lives and affecting change for the better. When you choose to mentor a younger member of the community you’re committing to a longer term investment of time and energy. Once the relationship starts to grow and they see that they can make...

"Because it makes me feel good." If you know me, then you would know that my answer is an attempt to answer the "Why do you mentor?" question in a "simple way". One of my favorite sayings is “Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers.” So that's my simple answer... So really, why do I do it? I originally got involved with volunteering to be a programming mentor on our local high school...

I thought it would be a great opportunity to help someone else. In my experience, people tend to place blame but not accept responsibility. I could sit around and complain about what is going on, or I can do something. This has been an amazing opportunity to help the next generation, but they have helped me just as much, if not more. Going in to my first "mentoring" with the class, I was unsure of what to expect. Walking out I was left speechless...

Giving back and making a difference has been my mantra for a very long time...since I was 12 years old. I must admit, getting involved when I was a teenager, was a way to get out of the house and go to new places, even if it was the local "county" nursing home to visit with the elderly who had no one else in their lives. Through mentoring, I saw that I could help fellow volunteers share the vision as well as become more effective. From my...

May 21, 2012 Mentoring and promoting the value of an engineering degree and career are very important to me. As i mentioned in my previous blog, the engineering world has been very good to me. Recently, I was honored to be featured in an article for Lehigh University describing the career paths of 4 women Lehigh engineering graduates. Maybe one of these stories will inpire you: http://www.lehigh.edu/~incee/cee_women.html Earlier in 2012 Being a mentor...

Fridays are electric. Smiles are bigger, excitement is higher, and weekend fun is just moments away. So, imagine the surprise on my face, as I walk in to a dark, barely lit classroom full of eighth graders that is calm, hushed and reserved. Then I saw it, the Sim City model on the big screen! The students were all in their seats fully focused on the projector screen as Mr. Raines went through the list of requirements. In order to get the students...