College Mentors For Kids
Vice President of Development
After being a part of College Mentors for only a few months, I knew I wanted a bigger role. When the position of VP of Development (over Recruitment, Fundraising, and Public Relations), came available for the 2016-2017 academic year, I jumped at the opportunity. That year I learned a lot about team management, event planning, and fundraising.
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My team recruited more than 400 students to apply for 270 Mentor positions, the largest number of applications ever received. Our chapter raised over $40,000 to support our programs that year, allowing each of the 270 children to participate in all activities without any cost to them, as well as receiving a snack and transportation from their respective schools to Ball State University every week. This was raised through events thrown by my team, and my management of each Mentor's dues.
5th Grade Mentor
I joined College Mentors For Kids in January 2016, the first semester after I had returned from my exchange program in Australia. I feel that I have been given countless opportunities throughout my life, and I wanted to give back to kids who didn’t have the same support system I was blessed with. I was a 5th Grade Mentor, and was paired with a 5th grade “buddy” named Seth during my first semester, and the next year a 5th grader named Braden.
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Every week I spent approximately 1 and a half hours with my buddy and a “buddy family,” consisting of 8-12 pairs of college students and 5th graders. We would do activities and help them learn about the importance of education, careers, diversity, and community. Our consistent time together every week also provided a sense of stability that many of the kids really benefited from, allowing them to have someone to talk to, whose focus was on them specifically.