STRIVE mentoring will look different this year. The high schools are starting the school year with distance learning, which means STRIVE will begin the year with virtual meetings between the students and the mentors.
John Marshall and Mayo High School will be on a different type of schedule this year. Instead of the traditional 8-period day, the day will be a 4-period day. The schedule is called an A/B block schedule. Periods 1 through 4 will be on A day and periods 5 through 8 on B day. Class periods will be longer.
STRIVE meetings will be held during the school day, but closer to the noon hour. This will allow the students to attend a STRIVE meeting and meet with their mentors closer to the end of a class and right before the student’s lunch. The meetings at John Marshall will be on Tuesday and Mayo on Wednesday, both at 11:00 am and the RALC, Wednesday at 11:15 am. We plan to have the main meeting shorter. Students and mentors would break into small groups, so the mentor and student would have time to get to know each other and develop a rapport. Mentors will still discuss how the student is doing in his/her classes and what if anything he/she could do to improve. Most likely we will use Goggle Meet since that is the virtual meeting platform the school district uses, and students have access to.
We will be having about 10-12 students at each school. This year, we will be having programs at John Marshall, Mayo, and Rochester Alternative Learning Center (RALC). Century will not be participating this year.
We are also planning on having two virtual meetings in October during the school day. We will not be going to Rochester Community and Technical College in October for our vocational programs evening. It will be rescheduled, if possible, later in the school year.
We have sent out a call for mentors to those that mentored last year. With the change in meeting times, it looks like we may be needing more volunteers to mentor. If you would like to mentor or need more information, please contact Diane Ilstrup at deilstrup@msn.com. You will find the experience rewarding.