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 5th 2008-Caring student leaders at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland celebrated their experiences and success in the MentorCares program on Friday April 25th, 2008 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 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. A sample of topics from this year's workshops included: cultural diversity, responsibility and follow through, effective communication, time management and business etiquette. The students also celebrated their participation in outreach activities that included:

• Working with each other in mentoring teams throughout the school year.
• Hosting the annual LiteracyCares Award of Excellence Dinner-held in Washington D.C.
• Adopting Rosa Parks Elementary and conducting Saturday morning literacy sessions.
• Working to plan, organize and raise money for their annual hunger relief program. 
• Assembly of food boxes for 840 families as part of the 2007 ThanksgivingCares program.     

Inspiring speakers included:    

• Mr. Freddie Payton-Keynote Speaker-from Leah M. Joppy Associates, a leadership and organizational development company that facilitates leadership development training courses for managers and employees throughout the U.S... Mr. Payton spoke about the power of mentoring and the impact it can have on others. He inspired the students with his stories of how he became a mentor as a young man. He reminded the students that the skills they learned during the school year are the same skills they will need for success in today’s business world.

• Ms. Roman Abate-Keynote Speaker-a financial analyst with WSSC spoke about her experiences as a long time volunteer and specifically talked about her work with the “Tesfa Ineste” organization that works to build hospitals for young women in rural Ethiopia. She encouraged all the students to get involved and continue their work as caring leaders.   

• MentorCares Student Speakers-spoke about the importance of keeping the program going and how grateful they were for all they had learned from Ms. Antoinette Sampson, Ms. Tracy Walls and their adult coaches during their time in the program.

As part of the morning’s activities table exercises were conducted that challenged the students and guests to work on and then demonstrate various life and leadership skills.   

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

Scholarships were presented to several of the graduating seniors. Kaneisha Hall, Erica Benson, Sandra Portillo-Rosales, Jenifer Vasquez and Hafeeza Hassan each received scholarships for their outstanding leadership and 4 years of dedication to their work as MentorCares leaders. They received college tuition scholarships of $500, $250 and $50.    

Ms. Brenda Torrence and Ms. Sharon Chandler from the D.C. Metro Graduate Chapter of the Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Inc. also provided a generous contribution to the scholarship fund and presented gift cards to other seniors in the program. Mr. Brad Holsclaw a long time supporter of LeadershipCares committed to double each of the scholarships presented.

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 MentorCares.

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.