- April 24, 2024
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Flagler County Education Foundation Executive Director Teresa Rizzo and Student Services Coordinator Christy Butler. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Take Stock in Children mentor Tom Witherspoon. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mentor Beth Branick and Christy Butler, the Ed Foundation's student services coordinator. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Carlo Schiandra and Judge Andrea Totten. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mentors Dave and Roi Parris. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Luci Dance and Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tom Witherspoon finished a four-year stint as a volunteer mentor with Take Stock in Children.
His mentee graduated from Matanzas High School in May and is now a student at the University of North Florida.
"I was with him for his first job and his first car," Witherspoon said.
The experience was so fulfilling, Witherspoon is now mentoring another student, taking on another four-year commitment.
Take Stock in Children is a statewide non-profit that provides full college tuition for low-income students who are accepted into the program and make it through. The Flagler County Education Foundation facilitates Take Stock in Flagler County. Twenty-three Flagler students graduated from the program last year.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, the Ed Foundation held its Mentor Appreciation Night at Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill. It was a chance for current mentors to enjoy the night out and share notes.
Ed Foundation Executive Director Teresa Rizzo opened the evening by telling the mentors, "I want to thank you for mentoring kids, some of whom wouldn't have graduated high school, and thanks to you we're putting them through college."
Flagler County Judge Andrea Totten is a veteran mentor. She attended the Welcome Mentors event at the beginning of the school year with Courthouse Security Officer Carlo Schiandra.
"He came as my security and walked away with a mentee of his own," Totten said.
"I feel like I was blessed to go with her that day," Schiandra said. "It was like divine intervention."
Pete Celestino is a mentor as well as the county's college success coach. He meets with all of the juniors and seniors in the program twice a semester and the freshmen and sophomores once per semester and organizes college tours for the participants.
Christy Butler, the foundation's student services coordinator, guides new mentors such as Beth Branick. Twenty ice-breaker questions are a good place to start, Butler said. A couple of examples, she said, are, "If you can travel anywhere for two weeks, where would it be?" and "If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be?"
The mentors meet their students at school for lunch at least once every other week. Sometimes an ice-breaker can take up the whole lunch, Butler said. From there, they can discuss grades and testing and issues that are important to the student.
The mentor-mentee relationship often continues into college and beyond, Butler said.
Dr. Ana Blaine, a professor of education at Daytona State College, is mentoring a senior. She believes in the program so strongly she convinced her mother to become a mentor too.
"I said, 'I'm too old for that,'" Idalia Betancourt said. But Betancourt is now in her second year as a mentor and has developed a special relationship with her mentee.
"At first it was hard to get her to talk. But she's really gracious. She always asks about my life."
— IDALIA BETANCOURT, Take Stock in Children mentor
"At first it was hard to get her to talk," Betancourt said. "But she's really gracious. She always asks about my life."
Many retired people find being a mentor a fulfilling pursuit. Dave and Roi Parris, a retired couple, are now each working with a second mentee.
"I saw an ad," Roi Parris said, explaining how they originally got involved with Take Stock in Children. "We needed something to pursue."
"There was a learning curve," Dave Parris said. "Who knows what a mentor is supposed to do? But there's a list of exercises, and it gives us an entry point. It's a great program."
Witherspoon is also retired.
"I was in retail for 40 years," he said. "In retail management, I was constantly mentoring people. People who worked under me went on to be doctors and lawyers."
Being a Take Stock mentor is just part of a group effort, Witherspoon said.
"You have to use your resources at the school as well as with the Foundation," he said.
