The Mentor of the month for April is Lyle Wilson! Lyle and his mentee John have one of the longest-running matches in our program, having just surpassed the four-year mark! John is one of our oldest kids and in April turned 18. Lyle was there to celebrate this milestone with John and even help him plan the festivities. In April, Lyle continued to be instrumental in helping John maneuver the struggles of high school life by remaining the supportive yet openly honest person that John needs. Lyle has recognized the growth in John and their relationship together and makes sure that the two use mentoring for the biggest greatest challenge of all: preparing for adulthood. A tough task, no doubt, but we’re happy John has Lyle to help make the transition!

1. What’s your fondest memory from spending time with your mentee?

There was a time when my mentee was “sorta in” and “sorta out” of the system.  Then his family experienced another chapter in their saga of instability and dysfunction, and my mentee found himself 15 years old and “sorta” on the streets with no permanent place to stay and with no support for food, money to get to school, or supervision.  He started not going to school and got picked up by a truancy officer.  This was good and got him headed in a much better place.  Part of that process was the court.   My fondest memory was being in the court room with some Best Kids staff to see a judge.  The judge asked me how long I would be committed to being a mentor.  I told the judge that until my mentee or the court told me to stop, I would be there for my mentee.

1. Which was your favorite Peer Group?

I don’t have a favorite peer group.  It is my only time I get to be with the larger Best Kids community and I always enjoy hanging with the group.

1. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced since becoming your mentee’s mentor?

I think it’s been the need to “just be there” when I can’t solve my mentee’s basic life needs.  I’ve been attempting to help him transition from adolescence to adulthood.  As we know, this is extremely difficult for almost everyone on the planet from the beginning of time.  This is much more difficult for someone with significant education gaps, serious emotional scars, and who has never had a consistent hand helping create self discipline or showing them by their own example how to live and be successful.

1. What is your current job/career and what is something you enjoy about your work?

I am a software engineer, (aka software developer).  I love learning and am always learning something new.

1. What are some of your hobbies/things you like to do in your free time?

My major hobby is learning.  I am always reading and studying something.  After that, spending time with family (I have four children and 10 grandchildren), mentoring, and I do other volunteer work. I support a food program to feed children around the world called Stop Hunger Now, and I have recently started working with a disaster support organization called Hope Force that provides immediate and long term assistance for people have suffered serious catastrophe.

1. What’s your favorite food?

Probably Mexican.

On Saturday, May 11th BEST Kids hosted its First Annual 5K Race and Kids’ Fun Run in spirit of National Foster Care Month and in an effort to raise awareness about the power of mentoring youth in DC’s child welfare system. 148 runners registered for the event and many of our mentors, mentees, community partners and board members also participated in the race.

The 5K Race kicked off at 8AM sharp, and the runners enjoyed music and commentary provided by DJ Bob Artman. At 9AM everyone gathered for the Kids’ Fun Run, and we were blown away by our mentees’ competitive spirit! BEST Kids rewarded all the youth runners with medals and BK Frisbees.

To see full photos from the event check out our media page, and if you ran the race and would like to check your run time, click here.

After the Fun Run, BEST Kids continued the fitness fun for mentors and mentees by hosting monthly Peer Group. Mentors and mentees engaged in some healthy competition and faced off in a 3 legged race, an egg relay, and an intense game of kickball. We ended the Peer Group activities by eating a healthy lunch donated by our community partner, DC Central Kitchen. The day was filled with excitement and fun, and we can’t wait to do it again next year!

THANK YOU for making the 2013 BEST Kids 5K Race & Kids’ Fun Run a success:

East Potomac Park, for providing space for the event,

RaceDC Timing, for assisting with race registration, set-up, and timing runners,

DJ Bob Artman, for MCing the event,

DC Central Kitchen, for providing lunch for our mentors and mentees,

Sodexo, for securing bananas, granola bars and water for our runners,

Jonathan Miller, Bryan Eckerson, and Nick Masero for taking video and photographs at the event,

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC, members of the DC Chapter of Americorps Alumni, students from the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute, and several generous individuals who volunteered their time to make this race possible,

and our 2013 race sponsors:

Finally, an extra special thank-you goes out to mentor Lauren Cialone who used the race as an opportunity to raise awareness and financial support for our organization.

Thanks to all of you we were able not only to gather all our mentors and mentees for a fun event, but also raised awareness about the power of mentoring and promoted health and fitness with our mentees. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we hope to see you again at next year’s 5K Race and Kids’ Fun Fun!

This month’s Peer Group activities were full of collaborations! For each of the four groups, BEST Kids partnered with a different non-profit or individual to provide a fun, new activity for our kids. We’re very excited to have made so many connections with new organizations. Check out the highlights:

Lions

This month, our youngest Peer Group attended a Storytelling/Bookmaking workshop at after school program 826DC. 826DC facilitates these workshops by first having the kids create three memorable characters and then helping the kids to write a short story that ends on a cliffhanger. Our mentors were wowed by their kids’ creativity as they watched Angel, an eight-year old with wings and magic powers, Sam, the greatest magician who ever lived, and Andy, a teenaged skeleton with a pet devil dog come to life! Each mentee got their own book, and had the chance to write a unique ending to the story and save our heros (and anti-hero) from a time-traveling mishap. Thanks go to 826DC for allowing us to participate in this amazing workshop, and to the Chipotle on 14th street in Columbia Heights for donating lunch!

Bulldogs

Board member Keith Harrison supports a kicking bag as a mentee practices his roundhouse kick.

This month the Bulldogs participated in a self-defense class facilitated by our very own Board of Directors member, Keith Harrison. Keith has studied karate for thirty years and enjoys teaching youth about the art. Keith stresses the importance for inner-city youth to learn how to defend themselves and that his teachings are for self-defense only. Youth and mentors alike had a blast learning something new while getting in a good workout. Additionally, BEST Kids has recently formed a great relationship with DC Central Kitchen. DC Central Kitchen provided the lunch for this peer group event; they prepared some delicious chicken pasta salad which everyone enjoyed. All around this was a fun-filled day for mentors and mentees at BEST Kids.

Wolverines

Mentees get their groove on with help from a Joy of Motion dance instructor!

This month, our Wolverines Peer Group had among the grooviest events of the year. We had the opportunity to partner with a local dance studio, Joy of Motion, to host a Hip Hop Dance workshop. The day started off with an intense, body-moving routine that really got us all moving—and that was just the warm up! We went on to learn some traditional “b-boy” moves and dances of the local “Go-Go” genre. Of course, the teens of our group were certain their moves would be unrivaled by those of their mentors, and soon enough we had a dance off! It was a lot of fun for the youth to learn new dances and show off the moves they already had. Our Joy of Motion instructor was terrific!

Sharks

If a picture is worth a thousand words, our peer group was worth a million! This month, our oldest group of kids learned how photography can be used professionally. We partnered with Critical Exposure, a nonprofit that teaches youth to combine photography with their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change. We first created River Posters that included moments, events, or people that have significantly shaped who we are today. We then brainstormed what type of pictures could represent each event because we learned that the best feature photography has a plan to back it up.

Next, we all pretended to be Beyonce’s PR crew! We created tweets and fun captions for Beyonce’s photos to tell a story of her latest pregnancy. Additional activities included a photo scavenger hunt around the Navy Yard for items such as a wooden wheel, the Nats “W” logo and a photo representing an event from the mentees’ River Posters, and a small discussion on Pulitzer Prize winning photos where we talked about the impact of photography on social change. All in all, the mentees and mentors had a great time not only learning about photography, but also experiencing it. We’d like to give a huge shout out to Critical Exposure for the amazing activities and DC Central Kitchen for providing our lunch, thanks-a-million!

To see the full photo gallery for this Peer Group check out our media page!

We are excited to announce that the Mentor of the Month for March, 2013 is Dawn Potts! Dawn has now been matched with her mentee, Ashley, for a year and a half. Ashley is currently in the first grade, and is academically behind. In addition to taking Ashley to interesting, fun activities – including a visit to Mt. Vernon, a pumpkin patch, Cirque du Soleil and a Kid’s piano concert – Dawn is always advocating for Ashley’s education. To help her catch up Ashley will need to attend regular tutoring and summer school, and in March Dawn attended school meetings and began looking into to having Ashley attend either extended school year or Boy’s and Girl’s Club. Ashley is very lucky to have Dawn in her corner, and has made a lot of academic progress this year!

• What’s your fondest memory from spending time with your mentee?

I love to see Ashley when she is excelling in physical activity.  She is extremely fit, limber, well-coordinated, and strong.  All sports and activities that include her using her physical abilities greatly add to building her self esteem.  She just loves to be outside and engaging in almost any physical activity.

1. Which was your favorite Peer Group?

The step Show at Howard University.

1. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced since becoming Ashley’s mentor?

Her family environment is the biggest challenge, with many ups and downs.

1. What is your current job/career and what is something you enjoy about your work?

I work for a medical devices company in sales.  I enjoy helping  patients get well.

1. What are some of your hobbies/things you like to do in your free time?

Traveling is my passion.  I also like to swim, work out, meditate, and love animals.

1. What’s your favorite food?

Pizza.

BEST Kids is happy to announce that the Mentor of the Month for February 2013 is Dennis Cravedi! In February, Dennis suggested a community service project of delivering food to the elderly to his mentee, David.  Dennis explained to David what community service was and that he thought he would really enjoy it. When he picked David up he was in one of his moods. However, as soon as they arrived to prepare the groceries for delivery, David snapped into a different mood. He immediately started pitching in to help, assisting people transfer bags, even helped a woman who was struggling to carry a bag.  The whole time he showed a lot of independence and leadership and Dennis expressed it was great to watch David in action. David was in great spirits and when the pair parted, and Dennis felt this might have been the best session they’ve had together.  Way to go Dennis!

Here are Dennis’ answers to our mentor quiz:

1. What’s your fondest memory from spending time with David?

There’s no one activity or memory that stands out to me.  Instead, it’s the moments, sometimes no more than a matter of seconds, when David will say or do something that shows he really values our relationship.  From a broader perspective, I’ve noticed that for David, hanging out together has become less about the activities we do and more about spending time together.  And, the fact that David begun calling me to hang out is just one example.

1. Which was your favorite Peer Group?

Definitely the first one: a canoeing outing at Bladensburg Waterfront Park.  It was my third attempt at trying to bring David to a Peer Group following two previous failed attempts in which I showed up to take him and he refused to go.  He was certainly no more excited to go this time but at least he agreed to get in my car and try it out.  I don’t think he said more than 10 words on the drive and once we arrived, the non-responsiveness continued as other mentors and BK’s coordinators tried to talk with him.  As we began the activities, David reluctantly participated, appearing engaged but covering up any signs that he might be enjoying himself.  About 45 minutes in, his friend Kevin (another new mentee) and his mentor Brian arrived.  His face lit up, his attitude transformed, and David dropped his guard and started acting like himself.  As we were leaving, he asked about the next Peer Group and insisted I make sure he make it to the next one.

1. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced since becoming David’s mentor?

Establishing trust; conveying to David that I am someone that’s not just fun to hang out with, but also that I’m trustworthy and reliable.  Many of the important moments in our relationship have come when I’ve least expected them.  And many of those required patience and flexibility.

1. What is your current job/career and what is something you enjoy about your work?

I’m a producer at C-SPAN.   I really enjoy knowing that every day I have the opportunity to learn about something new and will face the challenge of trying to convey the news and issues in a clear and understandable way to our audience.

1. What are some of your hobbies/things you like to do in your free time?

Running, playing tennis, cooking, trying new activities & restaurants with friends, hanging out with David

1. What’s your favorite food?

Italian food: carbs!!!

On January 5th, BEST Kids and Sodexo co-hosted a Winter Celebration for our mentors, mentees and the mentees’ families. A great time was had by all, and we’re excited to announce that we can now share some of that wonderful day with everyone! You can now watch a youtube video summarizing the event. Check it out here: BEST Kids Family Celebration

A special thank-you goes out to Jonathon Miller, who put together the video for us. Be sure to check out the other videos from our youtube channel, including speeches from two mentors given at the banquet in October!

For the month of March, all four of our Peer Groups focused on goal setting and planning for the future. To encourage the kids to think about where they wanted to be as adults and the steps it would take to get there, we got creative and made vision boards! Thanks to donations from ScrapDC, the United States Capitol Historical Society, the Francis Gregory Library, the Arlington Central Library and a few generous individuals we had a variety of magazines, calendars and catalogs that our kids cut up and turned into beautiful projections of their plans for the future. Our mentors learned some new facts about their mentees, and everyone had a great time!

BEST Kids is excited to announce that beginning in 2013, we will be recognizing a mentor each month who has exceeded expectations and made strides with his or her mentee. The Mentor of the Month will continue be acknowledged on the website, so keep an eye out for more outstanding mentors!

The Mentor of the Month for January, 2013 is Brian Guy. In this modern world of tech savvy gismos, email and text messages, Brian has opted take a more personal approach to communicating with his mentee.  Every week, Brian wrote Kevin a postcard where he reminded his mentee of the importance any upcoming events such as Peer Group, the Inauguration, and holidays, and also acknowledges his mentee’s accomplishments and encourages him to remain consistent with his hard work.  Kevin made the honor roll this semester, which goes to show how much of an impact a mentor can make in a child’s life. Brian also takes his mentee out to lunch to spend some personal time together. Congratulations to Brian, and to his mentee!

Here are Brian’s answers to our Mentor Quiz:

• What’s your fondest memory from spending time with your mentee?

I have two. Playing Marco Polo over the summer and watching Kevin dive in the swimming pool.  I also love seeing his generosity.  For instance Kevin does not always get to eat a proper meal, but he will give away food to the homeless.

• Which was your favorite Peer Group?

It was the Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP) group.  We helped mow the grass, rake the leaves and clean the house of and elderly female. Kevin was able to get through the 8 hour day.

• What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced since becoming Kevin’s mentor?

Dealing with his mood swings and making sure that I am ready to respond quickly when they happen.

• What is your current job/career and what is something you enjoy about your work?

Currently, I am an Equal Employment Opportunity Manager, but I spent the past 12 years as an Employment Attorney.  I enjoy educating/training people about their Title VII rights and making sure that our discrimination complaint processing system is efficient and fair.

• What are some of your hobbies/things you like to do in your free time?

I love watching UNC Basketball, Dallas Cowboys football, leading Bible Studies, spending time with friends, local missions, running races and reading books.

• What’s your favorite food?

French Fries!!!!!!!!

On February 9th BEST Kids hosted two music-themed Peer Groups. The two younger groups, the Lions and Bulldogs, combined forces to participate in a hand and line dance workshop. Four instructors from If Not For Grace graciously volunteered to teach our kids the basics. So, in addition to picking up some basic hand dancing steps, they also learned some fun line dances, including The Wobble!

Our two older groups, the Wolverines and Sharks, also teamed up so that they could take part in a presentation led by volunteers from Words, Beats and Life. Several presenters, including a beat producer, a vocalist, a dj, a break-dancer, a beat-boxer, and an mc instructor talked about their craft and gave the kids some time to get a little hand’s on experience. Everyone had a great time, and we’re looking forward to working with these volunteers again!

Dr. McCollum, author of "Breakthrough Mentoring in the 21st century: a compilation of life altering experiences"

Last Saturday, January 26th, 2013, BEST Kids celebrated our 1st Annual Mentor Appreciation Day in spirit of National Mentoring Month. The afternoon started off with an ice cream social and gave the mentors a chance to mingle and share stories about their mentees. The formal speaking program consisted of a welcome speech from Interim Executive Director Jackyln O’Hara,  two guest speakers with professional experience in mentoring, an award ceremony honoring all BEST Kids mentors including the “BESTies Awards”, and a final “thank you” from BEST Kids founder Todd Leibbrand.

We would like to formally acknowledge and thank the two guest speakers: Dr. Walter R. McCollum and Mr. Jonathon Harris. Dr. McCollum is an accomplished organizational development expert with 20 years experience in government and private industry. He is also the author of a book on mentoring, titled Breakthrough Mentoring in the 21^st century: a compilation of life altering experiences. Dr. McCollum spoke about the mentoring  formula he discusses in his book and gave some advice to the mentors on how to help their mentees mature emotionally.  In addition, Dr. McCollum gave every mentor a copy of his book!

Mr. Harris, Education Director and Life Skills Coach for The House DC, Inc.

Mr. Harris currently serves as the Education Director and Life Skills Coach for The House DC, Inc. In addition to developing and overseeing academic and life skills programs, Mr. Harris acts as The House DC’s liaison to Anacostia Senior High School and other key partnerships within the community. In his speech he encouraged the mentors to remember that their involvement in their mentees’ lives is planting the seeds for their future success. Thank you both for your words of inspiration and commitment to mentoring youth.

BEST Kids also announced the winners for the first annual BESTies Awards. Every mentor was awarded a certificate of appreciation for their commitment to mentoring youth.  In addition, BEST Kids awarded the BESTies Awards to the following mentors for their mentoring accomplishments:

The Most Hours of one-on-one-mentoring for 2012 goes to Tisha Wiley, with Todd Leibbrand and Gail McCann as close runner-ups.

The Peer Group award, for the mentor who attended the most Peer Groups in 2012 and made Peer Group an integral part of their relationship, goes to Gretchen Rydin.

Mentors enjoying the picture slideshow highlighting 2012

The Longest Mentoring match goes to Caitlin Kelly, who will have been matched with her mentee for 6 years in April.

The award for Longest Time as a Mentor goes to Lyle Wilson who has been dedicated to BEST Kids since 2007, and has been with his current mentee for nearly 4 years.

The Educational Strides Award, for the mentor who makes an extra effort to focus on education, goes to Todd Leibbrand.

The Socialization Strides Award, for the mentor who has helped his or her mentee take interpersonal leaps, goes to Erica Carter.

The Life Skills Strides Award, for the mentor who does an exception job of preparing his or her mentee for the future, goes to Gail McCann from the younger group and Lyle Wilson from the older group.

Joy Whitt receiving the Todd Award of Excellence

Finally, in honor of our founder and the heart of our organization, Todd Leibbrand, BEST Kids announced that each year we will present one outstanding mentor with a Mentor of the Year Award, hereafter called the Todd Award of Excellence. The winner of the Todd Award of Excellence from 2012 is Joy Whitt!

In 2012 our mentors served over 5,663 hours of one-on-one mentoring and spent an average of 11 hours with their mentees each month. To the 59 mentors currently in the program – and to those that are soon to be matched – thank you again for your support and dedication! You are making a difference in the lives of your mentees; they – and BEST Kids – are incredibly lucky to have you on board. Let’s make 2013 another great year for mentoring!