Joy Bowes has been the president of the Tall Timbers Optimist Club since it was chartered in March, 2009. Two years ago, when the FLOW Mentoring Site Leader at Piney Point Elementary School, Susan Evans, approached the Optimist Club about the prospect of mentoring, Joy jumped at the idea. Optimist International is an association of more than 2,900 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to bringing hope and positive vision to youth. Joy felt that mentoring was a perfect fit for her club members; "It's about being a good role model and it doesn't take money, just a positive attitude."
Joy's enthusiasm inspired other members of the Tall Timbers Optimist Club to get involved and now there are five energetic and dedicated Club members mentoring at Piney Point Elementary, most for their second year: Joy Bowes, her husband Tommy Bowes, her brother-in-law Mark Bowes, Liz Walter, and Linda Beauverd. (In addition, Cindy Jones, a Club member and a newly elected County Commissioner, served as a mentor in 08-09.) Also currently mentoring at Piney Point for the second year are Omolayo Ojo, a truly exceptional high school student, and Chris Vaughn and Donna Gardner, two warm and devoted staff members at the school. The program is now run by two conscientious and thoughtful Site Leaders, Dana Morgan and Marcy Nguyen.
When asked what are the most rewarding aspects of mentoring, Joy said that the ultimate reward would be for her mentee to remember her, many years down the road, as a significant person in her life. For now, though, the daily rewards include watching her mentee open up and gain confidence over the last two years. As for Joy's mentee, a lovely and mature fifth grader at Piney Point, she says that Joy is fun and teaches her new ways of doing things. She says she loves doing homework with Joy, especially math, and that it means a lot to her to have Joy in her life.
The motto of the Tall Timbers Optimist Club is "Inspiring the Youth". Observing all the wonderful relationships that have grown in this program, it is clear that this is exactly what is occurring at Piney Point Elementary. As Joy says, "What is more important than trying to make a child's life a little better?"
