February Greetings
to our FLOW community!

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 MENTORING MATTERS! 

"Studies have shown that young people with mentors are more likely to graduate from high school and set higher goals for themselves, and they're less likely to skip school, use drugs or fight... By watching their mentors, children learn to expect more from themselves." 

FLOW Activities from January and February   

Mentor and mentee pair at the Chesapeake Public Charter School paint a birdhouse.

At Leonardtown Elementary, FLOW mentee  

makes a birthday card for Michelle Obama.  

 FLOW alum Daimon Breitmaier gave a demonstration on making  

origami stars at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary.  

Mentor and mentee pairs at Leonardtown Elementary making valentine gift bags for three elderly individuals who are homebound; other pairs work on posters to enter in the Black History month poster contest.

Mentor-mentee pair from the Chesapeake Public Charter School.  

Various projects at the Chesapeake Public Charter School: one mentor group is making sock monkeys; another group works on pillows; others are making coasters.

Student learning Braille with her FLOW mentor at  

Leonardtown Elementary.  

Mentoring In the News

White House Officials Share Personal Mentoring Stories 

At the second annual National Mentoring Summit last month, Joshua DuBois, special assistant to the President and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Michael Strautmanis, deputy assistant to the President and counselor for strategic engagement to the Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, served as keynote speaker, sharing personal stories of the significant impact mentoring has had on their lives and their careers. 
click here to read more 

1000 Women for Mentoring   

As part of the 2012 National Mentoring Summit, hundreds of guests arrived at the International Spy Museum on February 9 to witness the launch of a new effort to build the youth mentoring movement. 1000 Women For Mentoring aims to build a network of women leaders across the country dedicated to enhancing youth mentoring.

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New Data Shows Mentoring As Proven Tool to Help Combat Challenges

The second annual National Mentoring Summit in DC last month provided the backdrop for outstanding data linking mentoring to positive academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes for youth who face adversity. The Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Outcomes Report indicated statistically significant improvements for youth during the first year of enrollment in the organization's nationwide mentoring program in three targeted outcome areas - educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, such as truancy, and socio-emotional competency.
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Who Mentored James Earl Jones?  

Read about how James Earl Jones' high school English teacher came to be one of his most influential role models and supports.  

 click here to read more  

Correction  

The Jan. 2012 edition of the FLOW Mentoring newsletter contained a mistake in the caption to photographs from White Marsh Elementary School.  It misidentified the source of the donation for their penguin craft project; the project was made possible by a generous donation from AMF Bowling.