by Robin Cox | Feb 18, 2008 | GR8MATES
The second meeting of the new school year was a positive one for most of the mentors and their mentees. More and more sharing of personal stuff is taking place, together with the exploration of possible careers in the future and what will be required to get there.A...
by Robin Cox | Feb 7, 2008 | GR8MATES
We had another article in the Penrith community newspaper this week promoting the mentoring program. It was superbly written, yet I only received two phone calls as a result of the article in an area with a population of 160,000! It will be interesting to see if I...
by Robin Cox | Feb 7, 2008 | GR8MATES
A very interesting gathering on Tuesday, as mentors and mentees met up for the first time since the Christmas break. Some of the mentees were enthusiastic, focused and keen to move forward. Some had acquired part-time jobs during the holidays. A few were still...
by Robin Cox | Jan 25, 2008 | GR8MATES
Even though we are still creating the networks for our recruitment process, we have taken the decision to run new programs in three schools in 2008/09. That could mean running a second program in the schools already identified or running new programs at new schools....
by Robin Cox | Jan 25, 2008 | GR8MATES
Funny how different cultures and life experiences are. A while ago, while living in New Zealand, I advertised for mentors for a new program shortly before Christmas, trying to catch people before they took the Christmas holiday break. I hoped to get about a dozen...
by Robin Cox | Dec 18, 2007 | GR8MATES
Plans are well under way to expand the GR8 MATES program into two other areas we serve. Last week I held orientation sessions at both schools for interested mentors. What has interested me is the way these mentors are being recruited.At the school close to Penrith...
by Robin Cox | Dec 17, 2007 | GR8MATES
Last week was the final meeting for 2007 of the mentors with their mentees and was also an opportunity to celebrate the partnerships. Mentors spent time with their mentees catching up, doing some planning for 2008 and chatting about the use of the email facility...
by Robin Cox | Nov 23, 2007 | GR8MATES
I am at the desperate stage of trying to recruit 30 mentors for our two new programs in 2008, one in the local Penrith area and the other in the Hawkesbury area.Yesterday our email brochure was distributed via the intranet of one of the local tertiary institutions. We...
by Robin Cox | Nov 23, 2007 | GR8MATES
The mentoring program is going exceptionally well and the interaction between students and mentors is fantastic. While there are one or two students that might still be settling into the program, probably working out how to deal with negative peer pressure, the...
by Robin Cox | Nov 15, 2007 | GR8MATES
No sooner have we got this first program under way than we are expanding the program into 2008. It has been a good process, learning from the first launch and applying some improvements. Schools now have to sign a contract committing them to the program, as well as...
