4 Steps to Inspire Youth to Look Up to You

As a response to our new 2011 Summer Mentoring Challenge, I thought I would add a few words on how to be a great role model if you aren't able to join us as a mentor in our program here in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

1. Know Youth According to Positive Youth Development theory, young people need to be seen as resources instead of the problem for their ongoing development into healthy, happy, and productive young adults. Practically, this means turning to them to help solve issues and listening - REALLY listening - to their solutions. For many adults who were raised in the deficit model, it can be a challenge to reframe our own thoughts about "kids today." A teenager who may have been labeled BOSSY can also be thought of as a LEADER. Someone who is SHY or QUIET can also be identified as INNER DIRECTED or THOUGHTFUL. Starting with this way of thinking and interpreting young people is most helpful in the third step of building the relationship in order to have positive impacts.

2. Get Involved There are many ways to get to know children and youth today. Formal programs offer the most structure and support, as well as more assurance that your efforts are both safe and effective. For a directory of mentoring programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out Bay Area Mentoring. For a directory of mentoring programs across the country, check out MENTOR's listings. When you are working with a program, make sure that they have all the necessary steps in place to screen and assess both you as a volunteer as well as the youth served.

3. Build the Relationship Consistency, consistency, consistency is key to developing a connection with any youth. Don't make promises you can't keep - in fact, it's easiest if you just don't make promises. Many young people in programs are there partially because they've experienced many previous failed relationships with other adults who've made promises that weren't kept. Instead, remember that you're the adult and that you can inspire trust by saying what you mean and meaning what you say through your actions more than your words.

4. Encourage Sparks! Our June webinar focused on Sparks, the new theory from the great folks at the Search Institute. Sparks is the idea of a special quality, skill or interests that lights us up from the inside; a source of passion that when expressed, gives us joy and energy; our very essence, the thing about us that is "good and beautiful, and useful to the world." Helping a youth identify his or her own spark is a gift and can make a positive impact for many years to come. Remember that a spark doesn't necessarily turn into a career choice - many adults still love to sing, but prefer to stay in the shower instead of up on stage!

However you decide to inspire a young person to look up to you, please take action now! There are many opportunities to connect, no matter where you live, and many more youth who are waiting for a positive adult role model to inspire them. Make this summer count - become a mentor!

Update on the 2011 Summer Mentoring Challenge

Friends for Youth’s new 2011 Summer Mentoring Challenge is off to a marvelous start. After being launched in early May, the Mentoring Services department has seen an increase in the number of interested volunteers. Friends for Youth is excited about this trend and hopes to build upon it for the duration of the summer months.

Due to the increased interest in mentoring, Friends for Youth is excited to announce the addition of two special Information Sessions that will be held at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in San Mateo during the months of July and August.

These additional Information Sessions, along with promotional activities like bookmark distribution at bookstores, flier postings at corporations, and brand-new public service announcements, serve as the foundation of the 2011 Summer Mentoring Challenge campaign.

Keep an eye out for upcoming mentoring recruitment promotions featuring the slogan “Who Looks Up To You? Be a Mentor.”

Meet James Fredericksen, our Summer Intern

Hi, my name is James Fredericksen, I currently attend Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and am probably going to major in History, and minor in Art History, but as of now I am undeclared. I went to Menlo-Atherton High School, and grew up in Menlo Park. I played quite a variety of sports growing up, everything from soccer and basketball, to fencing and water polo. The sport I played the longest was tennis, although I never really was very good.

Perhaps my worst habit is reading, I only sometimes read a book during the day time, but at night, I will pick up a book and lay down and suddenly its 2 or 3 in the morning, and I have to know what is going to happen in the next chapter. My favorite book genre is Sci-fi and Fantasy, especially the Dresden Files, the Belgariad, and Mortal Engines, along with quite a few others unmentioned. My love of reading is due, in part, to having read too many of the Redwall series as a child. As a result of all of this reading, I found myself landed in an internship at Kepler’s Books.

In my free time, I find myself either reading, or with friends doing a wide variety of things that can only be described as “hanging out”, or, admittedly, playing computer games. Other things I like doing are hiking and juggling, although regrettably not at the same time.

Another love of mine is listening to music, everything from country to electronic to metal. I was raised on rock and a bit of country with artists like Warren Zevon, John Prine, and Bruce Springsteen. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone keeps switching songs halfway through the song, which kills the experience of the music. As Shakespeare said, “If music be the food of love, play on”. Once I find a song or a band that I really like, I have a habit of listening to that one song or band for sometimes weeks at a time until I either find a new band, for example Mad World, by Gary Jules. Some of my favorite bands are The Cat Empire, Counting Crows, Dark Tranquility, Coultan, Kamelot, Nightwish, and Pendulum with a wide range of other bands and songs.

I hope you enjoyed hearing just this little bit about me!