FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: LeadershipCares
10181 Nightingale Street
Gaithersburg, MD 20882
Contact: Ron Yudd (301) 540-5791
www.leadershipcares.org            

MentorCares Teen Leaders at Northwestern High School Celebrate Their Success

May 1st 2007 Caring student leaders at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland celebrated their experiences and success in the MentorCares program on Friday April 27th, 2007 at a breakfast held in their honor at the University of Maryland Conference Center.   

The annual MentorCares breakfast celebration is held to recognize the work of student mentors and their adult coaches that participated in the MentorCares program. The event was sponsored by the LeadershipCares Foundation.

Lula J. Davis, Executive Director of LeadershipCares welcomed the guests and spoke about what the young people had accomplished while in the program. Students participated in interactive workshops that focused on leadership and life skills. Topics of this year’s workshops included: public speaking, networking, and business etiquette. The students also celebrated their participation in outreach activities that included:

• Participation in the annual LeadershipCares Conference held in October.
• Working with each other in mentoring teams throughout the school year.
• Annual LiteracyCares Award of Excellence Dinner-held in Washington D.C.
• Working to plan, organize and raise money for their annual hunger relief program. 
• Assembly of food boxes for 860 families as part of the 2006 ThanksgivingCares program.     

Inspiring speakers included:    

• Ms. Leah Payton-Keynote Speaker-President of Leah M. Joppy Associates, a leadership and organizational development company that facilitates leadership development training courses for managers and employees throughout the U.S.. Ms. Payton spoke about what effective leaders do. She talked about the importance of being positive, sticking together and caring about others. She inspired the audience by saying that the most important thing leaders do is to serve others.

• Mr. Bruce Knotts-Executive Director of the Literacy Council of Prince Georges County spoke about his experiences as an American Diplomat for 23 years and his work as a Peace Corp volunteer. He thanked the MentorCares students for hosting the annual awards dinner for literacy volunteers and for what they are doing to raise awareness about literacy issues in the local area.   

• Senior Speakers-Ms. Candace Ali and Ms. Dekebra Arrington-Both seniors spoke about their involvement in the MentorCares program over the years and how it had helped them develop into the leaders that they had become. Ms. Ali and Arrington inspired their fellow students with stories of being involved in MentorCares and learning from Ms. Tracy Walls, their adult coaches and from each other.

Ms. Kwesi Williams, Director of Rebound, a teen and young adult ministry at Emmanuel Covenant Church was honored with the 2007 LeadershipCares Caring Leader Award in a special presentation by the MentorCares students. This annual award honors local caring adults that have modeled the LeadershipCares 12 and 12 in their work in their community.   

Underclassmen received a certificate for their participation in the program and the seniors that have been in the program received a LeadershipCares plaque.

Scholarships were presented to two students that showed outstanding leadership during the past school year. All the MentorCares students participated in the Tournament of Leaders Competition. Students earned points for participating in after school workshops, heading up various committees and for their efforts in volunteer outreach projects. The winners for 2007 were Ms. Mikeisha Williams and Ms. Hafeeza Hassan. They received college tuition scholarships of $500 and $250 respectively.    

Everyone that attended the event was inspired by the stories and the work of the young people. They committed themselves to grow the program and expand the work of LeadershipCares.

The MentorCares program is a partnership with Northwestern High School to teach young people leadership and life skills by having them get directly involved in workshops and outreach programs in mentoring, literacy and hunger relief.  

MentorCares™ Youth to Youth Mentoring

The program trains high school students in effective mentoring, coaching and leadership skills. High school juniors and seniors use these acquired skills when they begin to mentor an incoming 9th grader that is assigned to them by the MentorCares™ coordinator.

The goals of the program are:

• To positively affect the life of the 9th graders and set them up for success as they begin their high school careers.
• To provide the juniors and seniors with the appropriate mentoring, leadership and life skills that will be useful throughout their personal and professional lives.
• To provide training to fortify today's youth and adults with marketable skills to take into the workplace and provide a training ground to nurture self-confidence, personal responsibility and the value of service to others.
• To teach the concept of volunteerism by having the younger students give back as mentors when they reach their junior and/or senior year.

The program is focused on the one-to-one relationship between the mentor and their mentee. The mentor agrees to meet with his/her mentee for a minimum of 2 hours per month. He/she also agrees to attend annual events centered on the four MentorCares™ themes. The interactive and "fun based" annual events are aligned with the following themes:

• Building Leadership Skills
• Building Life Skills
• Exploring Career Opportunities
• Celebrating Volunteerism

A caring adult is assigned to each pair of young people to assist, guide and nurture the relationship. The adult works with the pair to teach and coach them on the 12 leadership skills and the 12 life skills. Adults receive mentor training that can also be used to help them become more effective supervisors and managers in their workplace. The adults offer guidance in career exploration, career development and "hands on" leadership skills as they work with the young people planning and organizing the annual events.

Expectations and Commitment:

Young People (9th Grader/Juniors and Seniors):

• Attendance at annual One-Day Leadership Camp
• Meet as a team for two hours per month with their adult coach
• Participation in three of the four annual events

Caring Adult:

• Attendance at official orientation and training session
• Attendance and participation at annual One-Day Leadership Conference
• Meet two hours per month with their assigned pair of young people
• Participation in three of the four annual events

For more information on MentorCares and the Leadership Cares Foundation please contact Ron Yudd at 301-540-5791.