Blog | Over My Shoulder Foundation

History in Motion: The Mentoring of a Spoken Word Poet

February 24, 2012 By dawnc Leave a Comment

This guest post comes courtesy of an up-and-coming spoken word superstar Alexis Marie. Alexis writes about discovering the power of repetition at a young age, and embracing her talents as a spoken word poet while being mentored indirectly by the power and the strength of Dr. Martin Luther King’s oratory legacy. Spoken word poetry is the bridge between word and music. It is a powerful thing to experience a spoken word performance. It is music, it is poetry. It is word in motion. Spoken word performances reveal to us the magic of music in its ability to move, to inspire, to incite change, and to create lasting and powerful ideas. Enjoy the post. I know I did.

-Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

If someone were to ask my mother when I began writing poetry, at some point in her answering of the question she would eventually climb into the attic and unearth a thin, Crayola-covered book. The title, “Poems, Poems, Poems”, is smeared across the face of the hard cover in my eight-year-old hand writing. That collection of poems is my earliest memory of wanting to become a writer; meaning—keeping in mind that I believe that writers are born, not made—I wanted to cultivate my talents and pursue my passion for writing in a way that I would one day be able to use my art to support myself.

As a young child I understood the power of repetition as a literary device: so much so that each poem, as well as the title of the collection itself, continually reflected that knowledge: one poem titled “Teardops” reads, “Teardrops, teardrops, teardrops, falling, falling from my eyes. // Teardrops, teardrops, teardrops, they don’t care if I cry…”

Although my use of repetition is certainly laughable, looking back, I believe that I was unknowingly tapping into and harnessing the power of a rich tradition rooted in the art of oration. This oratory spirit continued to manifest itself in me and at the age of thirteen I began writing spoken word poetry. Spoken word is an art form which combines the literary aspects of written poetry and the theatrical aspects of the performing arts; it takes poetry off of the page and places it onto the stage. Two of the main facets of spoken word artistry are repetition and recitation.

As a spoken word artist one must continually recite their work until it becomes learned to the body. Only through repetition can one begin living the words that are written, eventually embodying and becoming the poem itself. This, I believe, is the most important distinguishing feature between poetry which is written for and exists on the page, and poetry which is written to be spoken and exists on the stage.

Expressing myself through spoken word has been one of the most empowering experiences of my entire life. It has afforded me the opportunity to experience human connection in a multitude of ways. Through my art I have assumed the great responsibility of writing, not only for my own cathartic release, but in the spirit of human connection, learning and change. There is truly something to be said about the feeling of opening yourself up to a room full of strangers, telling them your story, sharing a moment, being joined in feeling, being inspired, and sharing your love and light with the world. There is even more to be said about daring to speak out, and having your words be embraced and internalized by people who are inspired to the point that they are called to action.

With this past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I was reminded of the power of the word and all of its wonders. When I think of Dr. King, I think of poetry and its ability to facilitate progress and healing. In many ways, his legacy is a mentor to my work. Every time my performances have ever brought someone to tears I have been reminded of the ability of words to translate into movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the greatest examples of this. Dr. King’s gift of tongue, the poetry in his politics, made him a beacon of light that many were drawn to follow. His words persist even in the absence of his body and live on in those who have been fortunate enough to hear them. Dr. King used words as a vehicle for movement and change; every day I aspire to do the same.

Alexis Marie. Photography by Marshall Vincent Garrett

Alexis Marie is a 19 year old Brooklyn native with a passion for social justice and change. Actress, poet, writer, spoken word artist, creator and community activist, Alexis is young in age but mature in her craft and passion for performance art. Along with having been a member of Urban Word NYC’s Youth Leadership Board (Word Wide), she was also a member of the 2008 Urban Word NYC Teen Poetry Slam Team that took second place at the national competition in Washington, D.C and won The Green Mic sponsored by Robert Redford—the prize for which she was able to travel to Utah to perform at the Sundance Film Festival. Alexis Marie also took second place at the NY Knicks Poetry Slam. In 2008 she wrote and performed her first one-woman show, Diary of a Young Black Girl, at Dance Theater Workshop. Alexis Marie has opened for artists such as Wyclef Jean, Mos Def and Goapele, to name a few. Alexis Marie was featured in the HBO documentary “Brave New Voices” as well as the MSG Documentary ” Knicks Poetry Slam.” She has performed on many stages including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Apollo, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Madison Square Garden, The Hammerstein, The Kennedy Center, The Lincoln theater and many more. Alexis aspires to be a English professor and novelist, ultimately sharing her gift of word with the world.

Filed Under: Performances, The Gift of Mentoring Tagged With: Alexis Marie, Dawn Carroll, Martin Luther King, Mentoring, Over My Shoulder Foundation, Spoken Word Poetry

Addressing Race Issues through Song

February 20, 2012 By dawnc Leave a Comment

Today we are pleased to present yet another engaging post written by Over My Shoulder Foundation Intern Sarah Gross. One of my favorite quotes about music by Jimi Hendrix is a driving force behind our mentoring organization. The quote reads, “If there is something to be changed in this world…it can only be done through music.” With keen insight, Sarah writes about how Lenny Kravitz’s new album mentors his listeners with a poignant message to replace all lingering racial discrimination with a joyful celebration of the common ground that can unify all people, all races. Enjoy!

-Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

Black History Month recognizes the history of racial tensions between blacks and whites alongside celebrating the achievements and impact African Americans have had on the country. While we commemorate Blacks in the shaping of the nation, we do so with the backdrop of racial strife. We are cognizant of the inequality between different races, an issue which was addressed but not quite remedied with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With each passing decade, legal measures are passed to improve equal treatment among the races, and yet the scars left by discrimination do not fully fade. We strive to overcome these scars through awareness and communication; a most potent form of communication is music.

Music, the lyric and the melody, encourages oneness or togetherness, and inevitably unifies people from a variety of backgrounds. Music speaks to people on a transcendent level, where words sung can convey meaning more effectively than plain words spoken.

From Smokey Robinson to Marvin Gaye to Michael Jackson, many African American musicians have used music as a form of communication to speak to broad audiences with great resonance. Recently, successful musical artist Lenny Kravitz released an album titled “Black & White America,” which targets conflicts between race and society.

With themes of hope, inspiration, and unification, Kravitz’s album comments on continued racial discord with positivity. That is, Kravitz conveys positive messages in “Black & White America” to uplift and inspire his audience rather than remind them about the pain of negative racial discord.

For Kravitz, “Black & White America” is an opportunity to personalize his experiences through song—experiences of home life, of culture, and of racism. He hopes to revitalize people’s belief in goodness through songs that are a “celebration” of life. “Anybody listening is going to feel it and be uplifted by the spirit of the music,” he avers. This sentiment rings true with all of the tracks on the album, which carry lively beats and catchy phrases that are full of life and spirit. The title track achieves both goals of positive energy and social commentary:

The future looks as though it has come around
And maybe we have finally found our common ground
We’re the children of our father,
if you’re looking back, don’t bother
We’re black and white America

In an artistic move that plays with innovation and nostalgia, Kravitz weaves his personal story into a broad social message. His own experience as the child of mixed race parents models the successful unity between blacks and whites in spite of surrounding discrimination and prejudice. The “future”—peaceful and equal relations between blacks and whites—has reached Kravitz through the loving bond of his family, and his lyrics strive to reach out and inspire other people to appreciate their bonds of family and friendship. Kravitz does not advocate black solidarity (perhaps this is implied in “looking back”), but rather black and white togetherness. “Looking back” to the past reminds us of racial strife, but only looking forward, only the “future,” can promise progress. We are black and white America, Kravitz declares, as a personal sentiment but also as a prediction of the future. He envisions an integrated country, free of racism and segregation, which stands on common ground where blacks and whites relate to one another in terms of similarities rather than differences.

Kravitz’s album achieves a remarkable duality. Not only does his music reflect on the past, but it looks to the future. He perceives that future in a positive light and his message is one of hope and optimism. Poetry is often thought by scholars to predict the future, where the poet possesses divine intuition and thus can foretell the state of society. Musicians, a different strand of poet, seem to possess this intuition. Kravitz may be blessed with the gift of predicting the future, as his lyrics resonate so powerfully with the past and the present. The songs of “Black & White America” guide and mentor Americans toward a more tolerant and hopeful manner of existing in the world. Through the medium of music, Lenny Kravitz inspires kinship and commonality. As he describes his album as a “celebration,” he is communicating the true purpose of Black History Month: a celebration of blacks, striving for and achieving unity with people of all different races.

To learn more about Lenny Kravitz and his new album, visit www.lennykravitz.com.

Filed Under: Mentoring Inspirations Tagged With: Black & White America, Black History Month, Dawn Carroll, Lenny Kravitz, Mentoring, Over My Shoulder Foundation, Sarah Gross

John Greene – A Mentor for College Students Everywhere

February 16, 2012 By dawnc Leave a Comment

This blog post comes to us courtesy of Ellen Sweeney, a student at UC Davis and our amazing intern/mentee here at Over My Shoulder Foundation. We are thrilled with the Mentorology story she came up with today. We want to encourage you all to think back on your education, your teachers and your mentors. Write to us to share your stories and inspiration. We appreciate your support, your thoughts and your time. Enjoy the post about “Finding Your Own Ilene”.

-Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

At the beginning of our school careers, it seems as if there is a fairly straightforward path in life. If you work hard, get good grades, and get accepted to a good college, it follows that you should be able to get a good job once you graduate. However, once you get to college and beyond, there are so many possibilities and options and decisions that it is difficult to know the best way to get where you want to be.

John Green is a New York Times best-selling author and founding member of the 2-part Vlogbrothers (a popular YouTube site he started with his brother Hank to keep in touch and stay smart). He recently made a video in which he discusses how crucial his mentor was in helping him get his first book (Looking for Alaska) published. He explains how much his mentor helped him improve his writing and that he wouldn’t be where he is today without her. Now that John is a well-known author, he has started mentoring other authors. He tells his viewers that whatever field they are interested in, they should find someone who is better than them in that field and take that person’s advice.

This point in life when your future is so uncertain is frightening because, as John Green says in his video How to Become an Adult, it feels like making a mistake will somehow leave you “homeless and hungry and alone.”

The video struck chords of resonance with my classmates. Claire said, “John’s description of life after college is similar to the way I feel now as a student getting ready to graduate.” Someone else said, “Having a mentor would make the transition from college to career so much easier. We allow ourselves to have people to look up to and provide some framework and guidance most of our lives – why not now? I’ll definitely be looking for someone to take me under their wing, to inherit their wisdom and experiences. I hope that one day I can be a mentor to someone else too!” Blake says, “I do not currently have a mentor, but after watching John Green’s How to Become an Adult I am sure I am going to need a mentor after college and I could even use one now. It would be nice to have someone who can help me figure things out about my career path because they themselves have gone through a similar situation.”

As students getting ready to graduate from college, we need mentors now, perhaps more than ever. Mentoring is important throughout life, but this video just got me thinking.

John’s video makes a point about the time period right after college. Graduates probably are not yet doing exactly what they want to be doing. The solution to this, according to John, is to “Get an Ilene.” After he graduated from college, John worked at a magazine in a job full of “crushing monotony.” On the bright side, he was in an environment full of older coworkers who were much more experienced than he was. One of these coworkers was Ilene Cooper, a writer whom John went to for advice and help developing his own skills as an author. Eventually, with Ilene’s guidance, John was able to publish his first novel and finally had the job he really wanted. It is inspiring to see that someone as successful as John Green went through such challenges early in his career and overcame them through the help of a mentor.

I am a student. I am glad that I have found some great mentors in my life. I am even more glad that I found the Over My Shoulder Foundation and can spend some of my time sharing stories about mentoring. Hopefully the story about John Green and Ilene Cooper, a Mentorology dream team, will encourage one of you to both find a mentor and become a mentor today!

Filed Under: The Impact of Mentoring Tagged With: Dawn Carroll, Ellen Sweeney, How to Become an Adult, Ilene Cooper, John Green, Looking for Alaska, Mentor, Mentoring, Mentorology, Over My Shoulder Foundation, UC Davis, Vlogbrothers

Celebrating Black History: The Spirit of Mentoring

February 13, 2012 By dawnc Leave a Comment

Today’s post is written by Over My Shoulder Foundation Intern Sarah Gross, who is currently a student a UC Davis.

The month of February reserves a special place in the year to remember the resounding impact of African Americans through the history of the United States. Black history recalls the legal and social tensions for race equality and recognizes contributions made by black poets, musicians, and political activists. We commemorate the triumphs and endeavors of these people because they inspire us.

The inspiration that notable figures in Black History emanate is a non-tangible part of their legacy to the people of America. As we celebrate, we are inspired towards forgiveness and compassion, perseverance and tolerance. Most of all, we are inspired towards caring and helping others. As we incorporate these values into our lives this month, we recognize the trait that many black figures share: the capacity to be a mentor.

What defines a mentor is different for everyone, for mentoring is the subjective effort to better the life of another person. In the words of poet, author, and activist Maya Angelou, “to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care.” Caring opens the heart to the needs of others. Through her words and actions, Dr. Angelou mentors countless individuals by caring, the essence of which is to give hope. The most precious and valuable of gifts, hope is a “rainbow in the clouds” to those who live in gloom. When people can inspire one another, spreading love and compassion to those who need it most, mentoring becomes an important way of giving hope and leading individuals to their true potential.

The concept of a mentor may be understood in terms of a teacher and a student. The teacher helps the student to develop his or her ideas, caring for that student and providing hope and encouragement along his or her way to success. The teacher/student mentoring relationship applies across a broad spectrum, as the teacher may be an inspirational social figure with citizens of a community as the students. The teacher need not know his or her students personally, but that does not lessen the teacher’s capacity to connect with the students on a personal level. Inspirational figures, like Maya Angelou, abound throughout black history as teachers whose students are those who are inspired and in turn inspire others to right wrongs and make the world a more wholesome, kinder place. Maya Angelou’s poem, “On the Pulse of Morning,” communicates the importance of the teacher/student relationship to describe mentoring as a coming together to surmount difficulty and spread hope in the world:

I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts,
Let us come together and revise our spirits,
Let us come together and cleanse our souls,
Clap hands, let’s leave the preening
And stop impostering our own history.
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation,
Courtesy into our bedrooms,
Gentleness into our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.

This excerpt advocates peace instead of strife, love instead of hate. Maya Angelou read the poem in its entirety at the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. The words reflect the ideology behind the March: “to reconcile [blacks’]spiritual inner beings and to redirect…focus to developing our communities, strengthening our families, working to uphold and protect our civil and human rights, and empowering ourselves through the Spirit of God.”[1] On this day in history, people came together to clap hands and bolster the community with hope for a better day, a better month, a better future. As a leading inspirational figure, Angelou stood before the many people in Washington, D.C. as a mentor. As a teacher, Angelou connected with her students on a personal level by sharing in, and encouraging, their hopes and dreams, and thus October 16, 1995 became a day of social togetherness for change through the power of her words.

The Million Man March, and Maya Angelou’s role as a mentor, serves as a paradigm example of the importance of Black History Month. We not only celebrate black history, but we celebrate the messages it carries. We are inspired by the positive developments in equality and community that blossom through black history, and we can continue to inspire by mentoring.

-by Sarah Gross

[1] Farrakhan, Louis. Afro – American Red Star. Washington, D.C.: Sep 30, 1995. p. A5

Filed Under: Mentoring Inspirations Tagged With: Black History Month, Dawn Carroll, Maya Angelou, Mentoring, Million Man March, Over My Shoulder Foundation, Sarah Gross

Mentoring and METCO in Massachusetts

February 3, 2012 By dawnc 1 Comment

In the early years of the 1970’s our sleepy little town of Lincoln, Massachusetts rarely was exposed to culture diversity. A Boston accent was rare. Once in a while you’d meet a Jewish family who spoke Yiddish, once in a while an Italian Grandparent who still had their thick accent from Italy, but mostly our town was just multi-shades of white. I remember my excitement when I learned about METCO.

Founded in 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, METCO is the longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the country and a national model for the few other voluntary desegregation busing programs currently in existence. The METCO Program was designed to bring two very different communities together. City kids, students from Boston, commuted to our preppy suburban Lincoln School. It was a life-changing experience for all of us. I saw it as a chance to learn all I could about Soul Music. I thought these kids could help me groove and sing like Chaka Khan.

Prejudices, often violent ones, were all around us. I remember my Grandmother’s fear of anyone less white than she. I remember vividly a weekend I spent at her house. While playing with a bunch of South Boston Irish kids, all of us bragging about how Irish we were, I tried to show off my “I’m unique, I have a mixed bloodline” card. I was attacked, called names and told to go back to where I came from. I had said I was part French. I was shocked. I went to my Grandmothers door where she consoled and coddled me until I told her why the other kids roughed me up. I remember the additional shock and anger when she smacked me off the back of the head and said, “Never tell anyone you are not all Irish.” I learned how ugly hate was and see this single moment as the most influential element of my moral code.

Yet…even today, when asked what nationality I am, I still only say Irish. Maybe it’s a habit; maybe it’s a teeny-tiny scar that still recalls how scary it was to be judged by race. Mine is such a silly story compared to what others went through but what METCO did was open my mind and be sensitive. I see METCO as one of my very first mentors.

This week I am very proud to present a story exquisitely written by one of my fellow students, Ron Workman. Ron shares his side of the METCO experience. I left Boston for several years and while working in the music industry I learned how many musicians boycotted Boston, calling it a city of hatred. Now that I live in Boston again full time I marvel at how things have changed. I see how my schoolmates have all stayed in touch and I think we are all very grateful to the METCO program for educating us to respect diversity, culture and individuality.

This is mentoring!

-Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

The Mentoring Experience: Integration of the Lincoln Public Schools

by Ron Workman

A couple of months ago, Over My Shoulder Foundation founder Dawn Carroll emailed me to share her experience of visiting our alma mater, Joseph Brooks School in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where she was asked by a current student what the METCO experience was like in the 1970’s. When Dawn asked the student why the story was important to her she replied, “It was history.” Dawn’s Foundation focuses on Mentoring.

The METCO Process is History

After a brief phone call to Dawn, (a call that took almost 35 years to make) I contemplated how METCO and Mentoring had affected my life. Of course, when I first think of “mentoring” there are the obvious people that come to mind such as my brothers, sisters, father and mother, as well as certain teachers and coaches, and famous figures like Dr. J., Muhamad Ali, Martin Luther King, Diane Carroll, Humphrey Bogart and others. None of which are particularly related to METCO. Then it hit me. With respect to METCO, it was “The Process.” The racial integration process of the Lincoln Public Schools in the 1970’s was a major Mentoring Experience that has affected my life in various ways.

Racial Tensions

I was born and raised in Roxbury and initially attended Boston Public Schools, as did my seven older siblings. In the mid-1970’s, forced school integration in the Boston School System pushed racial tolerances over the limit. In the heart of the tensions of forced busing were Boston’s working class communities of Roxbury, South Boston and Charlestown. There were daily school and neighborhood race riots along with several individual fistfights. Black students bussed to schools in white neighborhoods were escorted by the National Guard for their own protection.

Forced Busing in Boston

During this time of forced busing in Boston, METCO offered an educational alternative, which my parents wisely chose for me. My METCO years were from 3^rd grade through 8^th grade, from approximately 1972 through 1977; Ages 10 – 15. Every morning I rode a school bus full of us “METCO students” from our predominantly black neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan for approximately 45 minutes into non-black Lincoln, Massachusetts. On a long daily bus ride of urban junior high students, you had to be good at “capping” (aka “playing the dozen”, aka “Yo Mama” jokes) or somehow learn to defend yourself when you become the target of capping. The time was passed on the bus by playing card games like Knuckles, hand-clapping games like Mary Mack, and reading popular series like The Adventures of Tin Tin, Encyclopedia Brown and Matt Christopher sports stories. Shortly before arriving to school we passed by ponds, steepled churches, fields of green that are often mentioned in Henry David Thoreau writings. The suburban school had its own streams, riding paths and even a “Dunebuggy Trail.”

The Pop Culture of our METCO Times in the 1970’s

The hit television shows were The Brady Bunch, All in the Family, Happy Days, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Flip Wilson and the epic Alex Haley’s Roots. Being one of the largest Black males in the school, I endured many derogatory Roots-related comments. Also, during the 70’s Bruce Lee kung fu movies were very popular and every inner city male thought he had advanced fighting skills after watching “Enter The Dragon.” Unfortunately, the combination of racial teasing and the imagined expertise in martial arts sometimes resulted in physical altercations that ultimately ended in suspension.

Popular music was Rock and Roll or Rhythm and Blues (now known as Rock or R&B). Some may remember Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, which came on TV after Saturday Night Live. Disco music was in the early stages, which could be considered the beginning of different cultures coming together musically on a mass scale. There was no rap and no crossover artists, although Elton John had performed on Soul Train. The early 70’s was before Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” record introduced Rap music to the public. Aerosmith and Run DMC had not performed the rock hit “Walk This Way” together yet. As I recall, the hit songs at our school dance was the original “Walk This Way” and “A New Kid In Town” by the Eagles.

I recall in music class being taught about Cat Stevens and Loving Spoonfuls. I also recall a METCO student, by direction of her mother, bringing to class a Little Richard 45 record and asking the teacher to play “Tutti Frutti.” As an adult, I understand why the parent wanted to make sure all the innovators of Rock and Roll were represented.

There were many cultural and lifestyle differences that were brought to my attention. The 70’s was a time of Afros and Afro Picks. A student, unaware of the use of a pick, once asked me “Why do you have a fork in your hair?” None of my inner city friends rode a horse or a motorcycle to school, although it was not uncommon in Lincoln. Also this was the first time I was exposed to students who had their own swimming pool at home, which doubled as a skating rink in the winter.

Culture Shock from the City to the Suburbs

There were times when we METCO students observed the culture shock of the Lincoln students coming into the City of Boston. For instance, there was a field trip to Boston to see Sounder, a movie about a dog owned by a family in the old south starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks. Also, our French class traveled to Boston to eat crepe at The Magic Pan. For most of us Boston students, going downtown was something we did regularly on the weekends to go to the movies, shop and just hang out. For our Lincoln classmates, downtown was a once in a while trip to the big city. Most of the METCO students had a host brother or sister and sleepovers were arranged at each other’s house in Lincoln and Boston for the students to get some exposure to the others lifestyle. The entire class collectively, enjoyed the traditional 8^th Grade Trip to Washington, DC to visit the White House.

Shared Culture in the City and in the Suburbs

I learned that some things were beyond cultural differences such as sports. An athlete respects another athlete. A teammate defends another teammate. Period. Many of us METCO students had a different style of playing basketball than our Lincoln teammates. Many of us METCO students had not played soccer until we arrived in Lincoln. Nationball was a playground activity that many of us enjoyed, but did not play in the city. The need to fit in during junior high school is also beyond cultural difference. I recall sneaking away to smoke cigarettes with my Lincoln classmates.

METCO Helped Me Become an Agent for Change

How has this experience contributed to my life today? African-Americans, as well as other people of Color remain under-represented in Corporate America, and particularly in the legal profession. Unfortunately, I am usually the only black male at the law firm who is billing his time to a client. As a result of my integration experience in Lincoln, I am confidently familiar with this dynamic and can be an active vehicle to help a corporation expand its cultural diversity profile. A colleague once told me that not everyone is willing or equipped to be the cultural pioneer for a company or department. Here, I think the METCO/Lincoln experience provided me with a good foundation for being a change agent.

My Mentoring Experience from METCO

I guess the true direct mentors that I had during the METCO experience were the students that came just a year or two before me: The Joseph Brooks graduating class of 1975 and 1976. I was able to watch them interact in Lincoln and in Boston. They were the ones who truly broke the color lines. There were other New England suburbs involved with METCO as well. Most of my classmates went on to Lincoln-Sudbury High School but I did not. Eventually, as the program grew, we METCO students were able to recognize and identify with each other in our urban communities. The indirect mentors were the visionaries who blazed the institutional path for the METCO program to come to fruition.

In thinking about Dawn’s encounter with that current Lincoln student, I had an epiphany about the evolution of life. As the students of the Brooks Class of 1977 approach 50 years old, I realized that our individual and collective memories and experiences of the 70’s formed some type of basis for who we are today. Perhaps more importantly, I realized that our memoirs are a living and breathing history lesson to a current Brooks student and should be passed on. I thank that young student for sparking this reflective journey and for mentoring upward.

Ron Workman

Joseph Brooks, Class of 1977

Filed Under: The Gift of Mentoring Tagged With: Boston, Brooks Class of 1977, Dawn Carroll, Joseph Brooks, Lincoln, Lincoln-Sudbury High School, Massachusetts, Mayor Kevin White, Mentoring, METCO, Over My Shoulder Foundation, Public Schools, Ron Workman

National Thank Your Mentor Day – Words from OMSF Founder Dawn Carroll

January 25, 2012 By dawnc 1 Comment

Behind the scenes of mourning where little is pretty….

We find new friends in Cambodia…strangers who have true pity.

Closure has never really been known. Closure seemed impossible, always postponed.

But now our pain has a place to call its own. The memories of our lost ones have another home

Today is National Thank Your Mentor Day. Mentors share and provide experience. They inspire. I often joke around and say “I am the poster child for what happens when you don’t have a mentor.” But its hardly truth. I have had amazing mentors. Today I want to thank my new mentors in Cambodia.

Writing a Memoir and Discovering Mentoring

Before I started the Over My Shoulder mentoring mission I was struggling to complete a memoir. I had so many chapters written, but I had no ending. My wise mentor, writing coach Michael Steinberg, kept telling me, “The ending hasn’t arrived yet.” Over My Shoulder Foundation (OMSF) fell into my lap when I was asked to find a subject matter that a young girl could authentically and appropriately sing…that adults would like also. I giggled at first because I’d been so deep into my sad memoir I felt I had nothing appropriate to say. Then the term “mentoring” appeared. I knew it could be a perfect theme.

One Less – My Healing Quest

Mentoring was a cure for hopelessness and might be able to heal all the things my “Stephen King” memoir was about. I wrote the lyrics to the Over My Shoulder Song in seconds flat. I could see that the Over My Shoulder message could be the remedy to the destructive and disconnected feelings that littered the pages of my memoir. I kept thinking…maybe having a mentor could have prevented the death of so many kids that were part of our close knit community. Maybe a mentor could have glued us survivors back together, many of us suffering from Post Traumatic Stress and just maybe mentoring could cure my exasperated feelings. Maybe mentoring could inspire one less suicide, one less addict, one less teen pregnancy, one less alcoholic, one less bully, one less gang banger, one less murder. One Less of everything that had tragically touched my life. One Less became my dream, my passion, my healing quest.

Traumas and Tributes

Exposure to trauma has shattering effects on social, spiritual and physical health. There are real, hard to cure, long term effects. Then there are the things we victims call “triggers.” Those things that drag you back to your suffocating loss that make it almost impossible to heal. Little things can dismember your calm in seconds flat. You can’t protect yourself from triggers because the violation was so upsetting and the years only seam to bloat the void.

In the back of my mind I knew my project would also somehow pay tribute to all my friends who had died and had influenced me, mentored me from beyond to try and stop a future tragedy. I didn’t know how and I never thought it might become the final chapters of my book. Then I got the e-mail about a school and students in Cambodia. This story started to heal the hurt.

Helping Those With Greater Needs Can Heal Us

Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts (LS) is where the tragedy began. And Lincoln Sudbury Memorial High School in rural Cambodia is where a healing could begin. The amazing effort is the brainchild of a young student named Mira Vale who attended L.S. in 2007 had heard the stories of the loss our school had and then her class went through one of their own. Mira had figured that helping those who had greater needs could heal us.

Her vision created the Lincoln Sudbury Memorial School. Her vision wove two countries and two cultures together. At our school the hallways filled up with ghosts. The halls of the new school would overflow in hope. Because my memory was affected by post traumatic stress syndrome I could not accurately remember our dear friends. Plus the list was horribly long. Mira and a group of Alumni started to create this list. Nothing prepared me for the emotions the first time I read all the names.

An Amazing School in Cambodia

Thanks to this amazing project maybe now the nightmare can begin to fade. Maybe now I can find a way to finally become comfortable with the loss. Just maybe this story will have an ending that really heals and I will no longer find myself sifting through the ruins, desperately looking for answers. Maybe I can relax knowing that there is finally proof that all my wonderful friends really existed, that they all mattered and have been remembered. I can relax knowing that they are the reason Cambodia has a new school.

Thanks to my new Cambodian mentors in rural Battambang province, nearly 9000 miles away who I can’t wait to meet. Thanks to the vibrant Mira Vale who went to my High School in 2007 and started this amazing effort because the future looks brighter, the nightmare dims. Maybe now many of us who still live can finally say goodbye and let go to those we lost and loved so long ago. I am planning my trip to Cambodia to thank and give back and I will make it an Over My Shoulder Mission to bury the past and plant mentoring seeds for a bright future!

Filed Under: The Gift of Mentoring Tagged With: Battabang, Cambodia, Dawn Carroll, Lincoln Sudbury Memorial High School, Michael Steinberg, Mira Vale, Over My Shoulder Foundation

Guest Post by Stephen Powell to Celebrate Martin Luther King Day

January 16, 2012 By dawnc Leave a Comment

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Proving the power of music can create social change, Over My Shoulder Foundation (OMSF) was started after we witnessed the breathtaking reaction to the mentoring message in our lead song Over My Shoulder. I was told by Dr. Johnetta B. Cole that this song was to be a gift, a facilitator to the mentoring message and a tool to break down barriers that separate generations of people and cultures. Our song and the focus of the foundation is to find remedies that transform one more hopeless person and create communities of respect, diversity, culture and individuality.

We re-post this beautifully written piece written by Stephen Powell who last week was recognized by the White House as a “Champion of Change” for following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our shared goal is to inspire the next “Champions of Change.” That’s you! Do something today and every day to help navigate a positive path. You can reinforce positive dreams. Never forget the power of a dream. Become part of the glorious sound that is hope through mentoring on Martin Luther King Day.

-Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

Faith Moves Mentoring, by Stephen Powell

(Reposted with permission from the author. Originally posted at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/12/faith-moves-mentoring)

We all have a choice in life to define our legacy and assess our true divine calling. As we approach the time of year of reflection on the tremendous contributions made to our society by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, I am reminded of his simple request wanting to be remembered as someone who simply tried to love. Dr. King’s spirit moves through me, daily, as I have made a conscious decision, moving by faith, that I want my legacy to be defined by the love for my community in my role as the Executive Director of Mentoring USA.

Mentoring USA, an affiliate of HELP USA, was founded in 1995 by New York State former first lady Matilda Raffa Cuomo. As a structured site-based mentoring organization, we provide comprehensive mentoring services and activities for youth, ages 7-21, through partnerships with schools, corporations, faith-based institutions, foster care agencies, community centers, and housing facilities nationwide. Once mentors are screened and trained, they play a vital role in teaching essential life skills such as: financial and media literacy; cultural awareness and respect; anti-bullying; self-esteem improvement; and living healthy lifestyles to the mentees in our program for a minimum of four hours per month. Essentially, our mentors are ‘positive opportunity brokers’ who serve selflessly to provide access to information, education, and opportunity to our mentees, and in some cases, the mentee’s family.

In the role as a mentoring executive, I am required to wear multiple hats in order to fulfill the goal of inspiring individuals—youth and adults, corporations, community partners, etc. to become agents of change. Some days I feel like I am a faith coach developing spiritual athletes and teaching youth and adults to: press on when life throws a curve ball, lift up in prayer challenging circumstances, and hurdle the temptation to engage in activities that will hurt their families and communities. Other days, I feel like a banker, investing in our communities and youth by using asset-driven language that deposits hope without withdrawing faith. My thought is that things can improve if we exercise an all ‘hands on deck’ approach in our respective communities.

I view mentoring as my ministry, as I recognize that much community healing is required to provide opportunities where children in under served communities can be inspired to learn and compete academically across the global landscape.

While our corporate partners have provided our organization with wonderful opportunities to expand and serve new communities throughout the country, I have purposefully focused on building the capacity of Black men and the faith community to address the shortage of adult male engagement in mentoring. Through support from the Open Society Foundation Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Mentoring USA was able to launch our MEN-TOUR: Recruit. Reclaim.Restore. effort to reclaim men and fathers who have already served as mentors in some capacity. The goal is to utilize and build their capacity to recruit more male mentors via the faith community, demonstrating how communities and schools will undergo a gradual restoration to safety and academic success for young Black men.

Our children are certainly ‘at risk’ when we consider the return we are getting on ignoring their cries for help. As a consummate optimist, with an intentionality to use language that inspires others, I tend to look at our next generation of local and global leaders as ‘champions on the cusp’ poised for greatness, when we learn to focus on what we have versus what we don’t have. I know this, first hand, having been raised by a single mom after losing my father to health related issues at the tender age of five. My mother knew then that mentoring starts in the home.

Moving in the spirit of collaboration, to mentor youth, engage men, and share resources, is the true testament to community transformation. When the ‘village’ is in action, lives will be changed. I am of the mind set that less is more; sometimes, it is necessary to be ego-less when aligning resources in order to be purposeful.

Happy New Year, Happy National Mentoring Month and God bless!

Stephen Powell is the Executive Director at Mentoring USA based in New York, NY

Filed Under: Mentoring Inspirations Tagged With: Champion of Change, Dawn Carroll, Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, Faith Moves Mentoring, Martin Luther King Day, Mentoring, Mentoring USA, OMSF, Over My Shoulder Foundation, Stephen Powell

Stephen Powell: Mentoring Icon and Champion of Change

January 10, 2012 By dawnc 1 Comment

A few years ago I approached a vibrant writers summer camp program at Pine Manor College in Massachusetts. They had a MFA program and when fall arrived, they suggested that I apply. Considering that I had not gotten my bachelors degree I thought this was crazy. I was in my 40’s finally figuring out what I wanted to do and my lack of education was potentially going to stop me. I heard the echoes of yesterdays, my mothers being the loudest. “One day you will regret not going to college.” And the day had arrived. The director heard my concerns and suggested I apply anyway. The vigorous program wasn’t for beginners but she said sometimes they give credit for life experience. We both knew I had experience but it had to shine so vibrantly and passionately in my application essay that it was irrefutably grounds for me to enter and complete the program.

The essay I began to write was about being born in the same year Dr. Martin Luther King JR. gave his speech “ I Have a Dream”, in 1963. I was at a point in my life where I hoped something I would write would make a difference. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to be remembered and wrote about being inspired by the greatest mentor of all, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What I thought I was going to write and what I ended up writing were two completely different things but both were completely inspired by the same man, the same message: “I Have a Dream.”

Last year when the Over My Shoulder Song I co-wrote (listen here) was broadcast live to 127 countries as part of the 8^th Annual celebration honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here in Boston, my dream came true. With my guidance and the help of many volunteers the Over My Shoulder Foundation began to soar. Over My Shoulder has connected me with the most amazing group of people. One of these amazing people you will read about below. Stephen Powell is being recognized by the White House as a leader who has followed the footprints of Dr. King. Please share our joy and meet our new friend, Champion of Change, Stephen Powell. – Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

Stephen Powell, Champion of Change

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 10, 2012

White House Highlights Stephen Powell as a “Champion of Change” For Following in the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

WASHINGTON, DC – Thursday, January 12th, eight local leaders who are following in the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. will be honored at the White House as Champions of Change. These men and women, who include business and non-profit leaders and community volunteers, have each taken great strides to improve the lives of others through volunteerism and in providing economic opportunity to others in their community.

The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative. Each week, a different issue is highlighted and groups of Champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community leaders, are recognized for the work they are doing to better their communities.

To watch this event live, visit www.whitehouse.gov/live at 1:30 pm ET January 12^th.

Stephen Powell is the Executive Director at Mentoring USA based in New York, NY. A native of New Jersey, Stephen was born and raised in Newark and East Orange, respectively and now resides in New York City with his wife and family.

He remains driven to lead program expansion and technical assistance efforts for Mentoring USA across the nation in major cities such as Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Newark, NJ. Prior to joining Mentoring USA, Stephen worked in program development and management for local and national non-profits and toured the world with percussive-based dance troupe, Step Afrika, which was developed through his collegiate affiliation, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated (Beta Chapter- Howard University). His passion for mentoring and community are visible is his roles leading the Trinity faith-based mentoring initiative at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, chairing the USTA Eastern Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and providing technical assistance to the National CARES Mentoring Movement. He is also an Advisory Board Member to the New York City Young Men’s Initiative and leads an Open Society Institute sponsored male mentor recruitment initiative entitled MEN-TOUR.

###

Filed Under: Mentoring Honors Tagged With: Champion of Change, Dawn Carroll, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mentoring USA, Over My Shoulder Foundation, President Obama, Stephen Powell, White House, Winning the Future

Under the Wings of Aline Shader – An Interview about Mentoring with Singer Julie Silver

December 8, 2011 By dawnc 3 Comments

Singer/Songwriter/Mentor Aline Shader (1936-2002) was a wildly creative woman. With great pleasure we feature her glorious mentoring story through the thoughts and memories of her remarkable mentee Julie Silver. Here at Over My Shoulder Foundation we are preparing for National Mentoring Month this January, and we are so amazed and inspired by the dynamic mentoring duo in this post.

Julie, who is also a Singer/Songwriter/Mentor like Aline, makes keen observations about mentoring. She and her reflections are a true testament to Aline’s legacy of using music to break down barriers: generational, cultural and religious.

Armed with both talent and imagination, both Aline and Julie brilliantly connect the disconnected while inspiring greater confidence, self-expression, self-esteem, and self-worth. Their careers demonstrate how music connects, heals and has the ability to stimulate great ideas.

Aline Shader understood that by fostering creativity, by mentoring, she could change lives and move her young students towards a society of greater inclusion, integrity and value. Now, without further ado, Over My Shoulder Foundation presents an exclusive interview with Julie Silver. Please don’t hesitate to share your own stories and inspirations with us, especially this January during National Mentoring Month. Enjoy the interview! -Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

Julie Silver - One of the most celebrated and beloved performers in the world of contemporary Jewish music today.

Julie, you are one of the most celebrated and beloved performers in the world of contemporary Jewish music today. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. At Over My Shoulder Foundation (OMSF), our mentoring organization uses the Jimi Hendrix quote “If there is something to be changed in this world…then it can only be done through music”. Can you talk a little about how you’ve noticed your music, and the music of others, become a change-making catalyst?

That’s a great Hendrix quote. Music really is a universal language. Music can bring large groups of people to an idea, to new information, to communication, to changing the world. Think of the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and it’s all there in black and white.

As it relates to mentoring, teaching a child to love music, to sing, to write, to express their feelings in song can change their world. Music helps people find their own buried treasures. Most importantly, music gathers historically marginalized people and includes them in the conversation.

I write contemporary songs based on ancient Jewish texts. I also write about my every day observations. When I was younger, I mostly wrote what people taught me. As an adult, I write my own story. Of course, I want people to hear my songs and feel like they’ve arrived home, that they’re finally included, that they might raise their own voices in protest and celebration. But beyond the concert, I want my students to become teachers. I want my listeners to become singers—especially the ones who sing off key! I want people to actively participate in their own growth and healing and maybe even return the favor and help others who are in need of strong mentors. I was taught from a very young age that it’s my responsibility to repair the shattered fragments in the world. Becoming a full time touring singer/songwriter has introduced me to a life beyond my own and has allowed me to be of service at any moment, anywhere in the world.

You currently live in Southern California, but your roots come from New England. You grew up in Newton, Massachusetts where your mentor Aline Shader also lived and raised her family. Can you tell us about how you and Aline met?

Aline was my teacher. I was a student at the Bowen Elementary School in Newton, and Aline was a parent/volunteer who wrote beautiful songs and original musicals which we performed throughout our time at Bowen and beyond. We were fortunate to grow up in a time when public schools fostered creative arts. She soon moved to a position with the entire Newton Public School system and was teaching and writing and directing in every school in the city, K-12. But she started teaching with my classmates so we always felt like that was a pristine time for her and us. She would write a song, and then come in the next day and try it out on us. Later in my life, I became a music teacher and used to do the same thing; I’d write a song and then teach it the next day to see if it worked.

When did you realize that Aline was your mentor?

I fell in love with her music when I was about 6 years old and her songs followed me everywhere I went and they still do. In fact, any time we get together, anywhere in the country, Aline’s old students sing her songs. Her songs solidified our group. She wrote really interesting, smart lyrics and beautiful, unforgettable melodies. I graduated college and it was my mother (another great mentor of mine) who suggested I walk over to her house and see if she could help me with my music. Over the next decade, I sat by her side, wrote songs under the shelter of her wings, spent hours in her home singing, learning, playing and dreaming.

Aline was an artist, a dancer, a composer who wrote from a very deep well of love and intellect. There was nobody like her in the world.

Many of my old school friends credit Aline for inspiring them to great careers in acting and music. We knew we were lucky back then and we celebrate those golden moments whenever we gather.

I knocked on Aline Shader’s door in June of 1988 and as far as I’m concerned, l have never left. After she died in 2002 her house was sold, I had already moved to the West Coast, but in my heart I’m still at the piano in her living room, my great mentor always looking over my shoulder, showing me what I could achieve.

Can you remember anything specific about how Aline might have also believed that music can change the world?

Listen to her song “For Love to Grow” and you’ll never feel the same way about adoption. Listen to her song “Partners” and fall in love. Listen to her song “Happy Birthday World” and try not to be inspired to take care of the earth. “Una Luna Brilla” is a song about building bridges between Spanish and English speaking people. “One voice is not alone, el mundo canta una cancion…”

Yo-Yo Ma said of Mrs. Shader’s music and CD that “Aline Shader provides a wonderful opportunity for children to become involved with music.” Can you reflect about why she focused on children, and how creative minds may provide answers to the many problems we have in this world, and how creative solutions can re-connect the disconnected?

I know first hand that if I had never been exposed to her songs as a small child, I wouldn’t be the adult that I am today. Her lyrics were inviting and instructive and empowering. They made people think and laugh and sing along. Aline kept it simple so that children would become engaged. Getting children to think a new way, building their confidence in telling their own stories, is the single most important thing we can do for them. Aline knew that choral singing can move mountains, in many ways like no other kind of music can. I recall a line from the psalms: “The stones that the builders rejected should become the chief cornerstones”. When songwriters and performers use this text as a mantra, we engage people who might not feel included and solve problems creatively, taking diverse opinions into account.

Without a major record label, you have sold more than 80,000 CDs, among your 8 current albums. “For Love to Grow” is your tribute to Aline. How has her influence allowed and encouraged you to flourish as a musician?

She encouraged me to do my own thing. She wasn’t a Jewish singer/songwriter, but she knew that it was an important element of my life’s work and she pushed me to be good at it, to be better at whatever I wanted to do. In the almost 40 years I knew her, I watched her successfully raise a family, be a grandmother, be a wife, be a full time songwriter, director and teacher. This was hands down, the most extraordinary model for me as I was making my way. So I am lucky enough to work every day, make a living, and pass on the most valuable piece of myself to anyone who might need it: my life’s experience.

At OMSF, a couple projects, including the Over My Shoulder song (performed by Patti Austin and her mentee Lianna Gutierrez), the Bulacards Project and our Mentorology Logo Project have taken the concept of Mentorology (the art and science of mentoring) and positively influenced the lives of many children – especially high school students. Of the Mentorology Logo project, the mentor and teacher David Messina said, “I saw kids that hadn’t done anything all year take charge and kick butt on this little project.” All these projects illustrate how mentoring can move us all toward a society of greater inclusion, integrity and value. Mentoring also helps us get across messages that might otherwise go unheard. Can you tell us what mentoring is to you? And how it has affected your life?

I have had many special Mentors and over the years who have taught me well. In music, my great mentors were Aline Shader, Livingston Taylor, and the late Debbie Friedman who was a giant in the world of Jewish music and passed away suddenly about a year ago. I have had amazing teachers in the world of music and all of them have taught me to be a better student, musician, and ultimately a mentor.

Last year, I volunteered teaching lyric writing/journal writing at a school in the Watts area of Los Angeles, one of the most underserved communities in America. I will never be able to articulate what happens to a student (and a teacher!) who is encouraged to simply write down and share their story. As if a light-switch has been flipped on, suddenly they are writers! Suddenly, their words and voices have merit and the stories of their classmates are of equal importance. I used to tell them that the loudest voice in the room is not necessarily the most important voice. Watching these young people write and hearing their stories changed all of us for good.

It might be important to point out that I am a lesbian, married in the State of California, and Mary and I are mothers to a 7 year old daughter and are expecting another baby in late January. I stand upon the shoulders of the ones who came before me, the pioneers who have arrows in their backs, the ones who walked towards the Promised Land but were ever allowed in. I sing for them. I live openly and try my best to teach and encourage others to do the same. Certainly, being a stage performer has given me the confidence to be open about everything I am. But it was my close relationships with members of my faith community that urged me to come out and realize my fullest potential. I pray and work that others might have the same experience I have had, or BETTER.

Music is the universal language with the ability to arouse great introspection and activism. What is the best example of this in Aline’s work? How about yours?

In 1993 I wrote a setting called “Shir Chadash”, in English “a new song”. Psalm 96 compels us to Sing a New Song unto God. This is the great challenge and opportunity in our lives, to see things a different way, to sing with our own voices, to be the change we wish to see in the world. I write songs to include and inspire people to find their voices and repair the world.

Where Am I? (a song about inclusion in the stories of the Bible)

The Barefoot Sisters (a song about climbing a mountain in Ireland and having two nuns (of all people!) help me reach the summit)

Thank you, again, Julie, for the time you took to talk with us about your music, your mentor Aline Shader, and the power of mentoring and music to add value to our lives.

National Mentoring Month is celebrated every January and January 26^th is National Thank Your Mentor Day. Over My Shoulder Foundation hopes you all are as inspired by the story of Aline Shader and Julie Silver as we are. It is an opportunity for us to start thinking about who we should be thanking this January during National Mentoring Month. Who has looked over your shoulder, and sheltered you under their wings? We invite you to share your stories with us. So, tell us, who mentored you?

Filed Under: Mentoring Inspirations Tagged With: Aline Shader, Dawn Carroll, Julie Silver, Mentee, Mentor, Mentoring, National Mentoring Month, Over My Shoulder Foundation

Truly Blessed, a Veterans Day Story from the Director of UMASS Boston’s Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) Program

November 11, 2011 By dawnc Leave a Comment

Today’s guest post is written by Barry Brodsky. He is the Directory of the Veterans Upward Bound Program at UMass Boston. Barry is also a Screenwriting Instructor at Boston University, an Instructor of Writing for Stage and Screen at Lesley University and the Coordinator for the Screenwriting Certificate Program at Emerson College. At Over My Shoulder Foundation, we are delighted to introduce this guest post by Barry. He mentors countless veterans at the VUB program, helping them to obtain education and work after active military duty. This Veteran’s Day, we honor all the Veterans who have fought for our country and those like Barry that help mentor our Veterans. -Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation Co-Founder

I came to work at the Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program at U.Mass-Boston in January, 2002. I had been teaching writing classes to adults and high school students for about 12 years, and as a veteran myself, the idea of helping veterans get ready for college was very appealing. VUB offers classes, tutoring, and other services all aimed at getting veterans into college. My job would be to ‘counsel’ them through a 16 week semester, help them decide on a future educational strategy, assist them in filling out the necessary paperwork to apply for financial aid, review what veterans benefits they may have, and generally be there to help them adjust as they try to fit academics into their lives.

As we prepared for a weeklong orientation, a Vietnam Veteran I’m going to call Al came to the office and filled out an application. I interviewed him and found that he suffered from serious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from the horrors he witnessed in Vietnam nearly 40 years earlier. He had tried school before and wasn’t successful. He participated in group therapy sessions at the Boston Vet Center, a wonderful counseling program for combat veterans funded by the VA. He said he was interested in studying History and Religion, and was anxious to succeed this time. When he saw the dates of the orientation, however, he blanched: “That’s the week of my annual family reunion. Everyone gets together in Alabama once a year. It’s the only time I get to see my cousins and my nieces and nephews. Is it alright if I don’t come to the Orientation?” I smiled and nodded, “sure, that’s no problem. You can start the program in the fall instead.” He thought I misunderstood him: “No, I meant can I start the program the first week of classes.” I dropped my smile and leaned a bit toward him and said, “You can’t do that Al. Everyone has to go to Orientation.” “But I don’t want to miss the reunion.” I smiled again: “So don’t miss it. And you can start with us in the fall.” Al leaned back, clearly facing a dilemma. I told him he had a week to think it over and he could let me know what he wanted to do.

A few days later I arrived at work to find Al using one of our computers to check his email. I greeted him and he told me he had decided to skip the family reunion and come to the program. I applauded his decision, and told him I knew it wasn’t an easy one to make. He sighed, “It really hurts not to go, but I know my education can’t wait. I need to get going on it.”

Al completed our program and enrolled in U.Mass-Boston. About three years later he transferred to a Theological Institute where he eventually earned his degree. Today he is a Baptist Minister with a Boston congregation. Part of his ministry is visiting families of victims of violence to offer support and spiritual counseling. His many years dealing with his own grief over the extreme levels of violence he witnessed in war, he says, makes him uniquely qualified to help others begin this difficult journey.

Since Al walked through our doors we have had more than 1200 veterans attend Veterans Upward Bound at UMass-Boston. Nearly half do not complete the program; they aren’t really ready for the academic rigor, they have too many conflicts in their lives, they aren’t fully committed to moving forward with their education, or they simply have too many personal problems to concentrate on their futures. Many, however, return to try again. Some drop out three or four times before being able to complete the program. Of those who do complete, more than eighty percent go on to some kind of post-secondary educational program.

In 2004, I became the Director of the program. While I spend a lot of time managing our shrinking budget (cut for the first time in 35 years last year) and trying to keep up with the mountains of data and paperwork that federally-funded programs require, I still get the greatest satisfaction when graduates stop by to visit and tell me of their achievements. And once in a while, when Al stops by to say hello and I ask him to ‘put in a good word’ for me with the man (or woman) upstairs, he smiles and tells me he always does. It’s then that I know that in many ways, I’m truly blessed.

Filed Under: The Impact of Mentoring Tagged With: Barry Brodsky, Dawn Carroll, Over My Shoulder Foundation, UMASS Boston, Veteran Mentoring, Veteran's Upward Bound Program