Connie and Friends
Growing up was hard, with problems at home and school. Because of my trouble at school, I ended up dropping a class my senior year and becoming a teacher's aid. This led to my first experience with mentoring as the teachers became someone I could lean on. After building rapport, I was able to confide in them about my home life. I also shared that working with the students in their classes made me realize I was actually lucky. I recognized that “giving back” was more of a gift for me, and I got much more than I gave. When I graduated from college years later, I became a “Big Sister”. Again, it was a gift to me.
I moved from San Jose to San Francisco years later, and was introduced to Friends for Youth through a local friend. She was part of the program and spoke to me about mentoring youth. I became a FFY mentor 22 years ago and was matched with Ben, who was 10. We were together until he graduated from high school and went into the navy. I found the program at FFY was nurturing and supportive, and I liked everyone I met. I was matched again with Lizbet, who was 11. Lizbet, her family, and I were very close. She went to college in the Midwest, where she is to this day. I now have a mentee named Jenni who just graduated from high school. The character of my relationship with each of my mentees is considerably different and they are all special to me. Even though Ben is 33, Lizbet is 22, and Jenni is 18, they will always be in my life.
These days I am again branching out to mentor in the group mentoring program. I have also been on the board for almost 10 years. I hope to continue mentoring, help raise money for the organization, and help find new mentors – who I can possibly mentor. I think it’s really important to connect with other organizations and bring everyone together.
“The character of my relationship with each of my mentees is considerably different and they are all special to me.”
