Monday, January 3, 2011
POLAR PLUNGE page
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The NEW MYST
MYST has a new look for our fall launch! We are very excited about the new logo...thank you to a great friend and artist, Michael Wiser.
MYST can be found on FACEBOOK....you will find our current updates and events there.
MYST is currently making mentor and mentee matches. Our mentors are trained and ready to be matched. We are learning, by trial and error, how this part of our process works. Some parts run just as we plan and others...not so much. The "human" factor is always there. We can put all the policies and processes in place, but we must always leave room the reality of our human lives. As we get very excited about students coming into our program, we learn that they sometimes move away. :(
MYST has received its 2nd Year Title V Grant funding!! We are very excited for the opportunities this will bring us. Our first year grant gave us so much....training, resources, mobile office set-up, promotional items, etc. We are going to continue in this same vain with the second year grant.
MYST is in the process of becoming its own 501(c)3. We are excited at the opportunities this will bring the program for the long term.
MYST is currently working on the "supporting teens" aspect of our program. We are working to provide safe, fun activities in the community for our youth. We are joining forces with other community members and business to make this happen. Our current goal is one activity each weekend. After we have successfully accomplished that, we would like to move to providing an activity each Friday AND Saturday every week. This will take collaboration from our entire community...not just MYST.
MYST is also gearing up for our 2nd Annual POLAR PLUNGE Fundraiser coming in January 29, 2011....Winter Carnival. Last years event raised $2800! We split that money between two youth mentoring programs in McCall....MYST and The P.O.T.S. Garden Project. We will join together again this year, but we expect to exceed last years fundraising efforts!!
Mentoring is a life style that we hope our whole community will come to embrace. We hope that MYST can be a catalyst for showing and providing the benefits of such a life style.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
We Got The Grant!
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We are so excited to announce that MYST (Mentoring Youth Supporting Teens) of McCall, Idaho has received a portion of the Title V Grant!!
This grant is offered to a selected county who has qualified start-up programs that are geared toward helping at-risk youth. Valley County submitted 3 programs in this grant: MYST Mentoring Program, a Diversion Program, and expansions of an existing after-school program. The grant will fund approx $71,000 the first year, approx. and additionally money for two years after...tapering in amount. We submitted a request for the funds we felt our programs would need up to the max they were offering. Each year we will be evaluated and submit for the next year. It's a great opportunity for these programs to get a great start...start-up money. We are very excited to get this kind of an opportunity for our community.
So what is MYST?
MYST stands for Mentoring Youth Supporting Teens. It's a community based mentoring program for junior high through high school aged students.
Our hope is to connect at-risk youth (our belief is that every student is potentially at-risk) with positive adult mentors who can help them navigate through these defining years.
Why BLOG?
We hope to keep our community and interested parties up to date on this new program. We would love for you to journey with us as we tread on new ground up here in McCall, Idaho. We are excited to find out what is ahead and encounter the ups and downs with patience and willingness to learn. If what we do here in McCall works (as we expect it to), our hope is that MYST will become adaptable for other communities like ours.
If you are a part of the Valley County community, we need your help and support. The funds we receive from the Title V Grant only go so far with 3 important programs benefiting from that money. We will need continued finacial support as well as participation from all types of community members. This is something ALL of us can be a part of. We have some great ideas in store but we need YOU to help us pull it all off! We would love for this county to grab hold of a a vision...a vision to SHARE YOUR LIFE. Share your time, share your talents, share your wisdom with our young people! Our whole community will benefit from this kind of investment. I hope you will join us!
Keep checking back as we hope to keep you updated and informed on what MYST is doing!
Thanks
Jessicah Travis
Mentoring Services Program Administrator
What is MYST?
MYST
Mentoring Youth Supporting Teens
MYST exists to CONNECT Junior High and High School students with responsible, caring adults, to BUILD positive mentoring relationships and GUIDE students to wise, constructive choices that will help them to be purposeful and positive CONTRIBUTORS in their communities.
CONNECT – BUILD – GUIDE – CONTRIBUTE – REPEAT
How will we do this?
· CONNECT with and BUILD relationships with students:
o Attend school functions (games, special events, etc.).
o Free and/or low cost activities.
o Meet friends of those students already involved.
o Meet weekly with students.
o Be available.
o Be available to Valley County Court Services to meet with and/or spend time with at-risk teens.
· GUIDE students to wise, constructive choices:
o “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
o Listen.
o Care.
o Help to determine life direction.
o Be real and transparent.
o Provide insight.
o Be willing to gently point out behavioral areas that need improvement.
o Be supportive.
o Be admirable.
· Help students become purposeful and positive CONTRIBUTORS in their communities:
o Care about our community.
o Provide opportunities to serve the community.
o Serve with students.
o Encourage positive peer mentoring.
· REPEAT:
o This will be the true measure of MYST’s success.
o Students mentoring other students.
o Students growing into adults who will continue to mentor students.
How will this happen?
· Planning, planning, planning.
o This will not happen overnight.
o
It’s better to start small and grow what you can offer than to start too aggressively and have to cut programs.