The Saturday before Thanksgiving, thirty-two students at Cathedral High attended the first Chumz Training Session on how to be a “Chum”. The older students, grades 11-12, learned what it means to be a “Mentor” to a younger person, and the younger students in grade 9-10 learned about being a “Mentee” – someone with a “Mentor” to guide them through the next few years of life!

Donna Smith from the Mentoring Partnership of NY came and spoke to the Mentors about how to be a friend to someone just a few years younger than themselves. The purpose of being a Mentor is not to be a parent or teacher and tell the Mentee what to do, but to be an encourager, someone whom the Mentee can trust and talk to about goals and problems. Many of the Mentors were excited about the opportunity to make an impact on a younger person’s life. Some rules for Mentors were also covered: no lending of money, and if a really serious problem comes up, the Mentor should contact one of Chumz’ adult supervisors (Frances Ning, Philip Chiu, Rachael Butler and Eelin See) for help.

Meanwhile Eelin See, President and founder of Chumz, spoke to the younger students, the “Mentees.” These younger students were eager to learn about life from their older and wiser Mentors. They were also excited to participate in fun Chumz activities, such as the reality TV scavenger hunt in May. They were encouraged to be open with their Mentors, and communicate about topics such as their favorite subjects, activities, games, their goals, and their cultural background.

As a game, everyone, Mentors and Mentees included, wrote down something interesting about themselves and put it in a pile. Then each student took turns drawing a piece of paper, and read it aloud for everyone to guess who wrote it. By the end of the session, everyone knew each other a little better, and had a lot of fun in the process. Mentee Natalee Langlee commented afterward, “I thought the meeting was very helpful. I'm looking forward to coming to as many meetings as I can.”

Next month, on December 18, all of the Mentors and Mentees will meet again to visit the Sony Wonder Tech Lab – so look for the report in next month’s newsletter!

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