Community Friends is a one-on-one mentoring program that matches Middlebury College students with children ages 6-12 in Addison County. The program was started in 1960 and is currently in its 61st year of operation. After getting matched with a student, mentees begin to meet regularly one-on-one with their mentor for about two hours each week. The mentor and mentee coordinate the timing of that meeting, based on mutual availability.
In non-pandemic times, mentors and mentees often play games, construct crafts, and attend group events. This fall, mentoring will happen virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Parents, teachers, guidance counselors and other service providers can fill out the mentee referral form here to start the application process. For questions or inquiries about Community Friends, please contact Lead Student Coordinator Maddie at comfriends@middlebury.edu, or Mentoring and Outreach AmeriCorps VISTA member Tenzin Dorjee, tndorjee@middlebury.edu, 802.443.5082.
Get Involved with Youth and Mentoring Opportunities on Campus The Center for Community Engagement advises and supports many student organizations and continuing initiatives dedicated to youth and mentoring. The involvement that you can have with these organizations can translate into real marketable competencies as you build your own resume for future post-grad opportunities. Explore the organizations below for an introduction and contact information to each group.
The Wild Middlebury Project (Wild Midd): a student organization for students who are passionate about environmental education, research, and conservation. In partnerships with conservation organizations. Wild Midd helps students connect across generations to learn about and protect our local environment. If interested, sign up at go/joinwildmidd or email wildmidd@middlebury.edu.
Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (NOM):aims to create community and connect people through food and food education. They organize volunteering events and classes with the purpose of teaching youth in local schools how to cook healthy food for themselves on a budget and to acquire the independence and knowledge that comes with this life skill. If interested, sign up here or email mockene@middlebury.edu.
Community Friends: is a campus-based one-on-one mentoring program that matches over 130 college student mentor volunteers with local youth. Read more about Community Friends or contact comfriends@middlebury.edu.
Page 1 Literacy Project: aims to foster a love of learning in local elementary school students through weekly programming and community events. As mentors, organizers, and program leaders, Page 1 volunteers take an active role in promoting literacy in all of its forms. If interested, visit go/pageone2020 or contact lmarkosian@middlebury.edu.
Middlebury College Access Mentors (MiddCAM): is a one-on-one mentorship program that pairs Middlebury College student mentors with high school juniors who are primarily first-generation and/or low-income college applicants. If interested, visit go/middcaminterest or mail cam@middlebury.edu.
Sister to Sister: aims to support the middle school girls in the area. Mentors interact individually with the girls in an informal and comfortable environment and discuss common issues in the girls’ lives, including school, body image, peer pressure and relationships. If interested, visit go/joinsts or email jgoydan@middlebury.edu.
STEAM Girls(short for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics): is a student-led camp focuses on keeping girls interested in computer science and technology. For more information, please contact contact VISTA advisor Tenzin Dorjee at tndorjee@middlebury.edu.
DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring): is a national non-profit organization based in Vermont. DREAM supports and partners with the DREAM Middlebury College student organization, which pairs college students with youth from affordable housing neighborhoods. If interested, visit go/DREAM2020 or contact hhayes@middlebury.edu.
DREAM college student mentors support Middlebury youth living in two low-income neighborhoods through guidance and friendship, creating a lasting impact.
DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring) is a national non-profit organization based in Vermont that aims to “close the opportunity gap for children in low-income housing” through mentoring and steady involvement opportunities. DREAM supports and partners with the DREAM Middlebury College student organization that pairs college students with youth from affordable housing neighborhoods.
Middlebury College student mentors play with youth mentees at the Virtue Athletic Field House and help get out the Friday wiggles!
DREAM offers a variety of programs that help enrich the lives of young children who otherwise would not have as much access to out-of-school learning opportunities compared to their higher-income counterparts. The work DREAM does with children is only partially based on college campuses– other programs are Camp DREAM–which is free for all eligible youth in DREAM–Teen and College Preparatory, and Summer Enrichment.
DREAM’s partnership with Middlebury College seeks to address the opportunity gap here in Addison County by partnering student mentors with DREAM youth. Student mentors meet with the children each Friday afternoon to play games and build relationships. DREAM with Middlebury College engages in both group mentoring (primarily) and one-on-one mentoring.
Casey Thomas, the DREAM Community Organizer and AmeriCorps VISTA Member this year, is supporting student mentors and mentees within the DREAM program. He acts as a liaison between the National DREAM Office and the Middlebury Program and facilitates fun activities for the amazing Middlebury youth they work with.
“There are moments when you work with youth, especially those in need, when you make a deep personal connection that can change their life and yours. The kids we work with, like all kids, need positive role models in their lives and the mentors can be that positive force. Our program not only serves our youth, but also the mentors who grow and feel the monumental impact of helping others.”
Casey Thomas, Middlebury DREAM Community Organizer and AmeriCorp VISTA Member
This program seeks to create a positive relationship between youth and adults built in trust and support. Janice Zhang ‘20.5, Outgoing DREAM Co-Chair, attests to the positive impact that DREAM has left her as well as on the children she’s worked with:
“The best part of being a DREAM Co-Chair was being able to see my hard work pay off every Friday and seeing how much the kids enjoy our company. I have learned that, at the end of the day, DREAM is all about having fun and that you don’t have to take yourself too seriously. This truly is an incredible experience.”
Janice Zhang ‘20.5, Outgoing DREAM Co-Chair
DREAM believes that the “opportunity gap is a root cause of why almost half of low-income children become low-income adults.” Guidance and support from loving adults is vital in helping youth become more than what their situation and bigger systems of inequality can limit them to be.
Interested in becoming a DREAM mentor? Please contact Casey Thomas at cthomas@dreamprogram.org.
Join us for this unique, Fall Family Weekend opportunity for students to network with parents who have worked to advance the common good—planned or through happenstance —whether through careers in the public, nonprofit, business, or environmental sectors, serving on boards, or volunteering. Whether it’s in public health, public interest law, the government, social services, community development, advocacy for better school lunches, or microfinance, this is an opportunity for our students to interact with professionals (parents!), promoting a deeper understanding of the different sectors while thinking about how to craft a career with a positive social impact.
Shadowing is the act of following a professional as they do their typical work activities in a clinic or hospital setting. You might ask why this experience is so important? First, it may be the defining experience which tells you whether or not you want to be a physician. Shadowing gives you a very tangible sense of what life is like for a professional. Through working alongside a professional, you can gain unique insight into what happens in a day in the life of your career of choice. You get a sense of what it’s like working with patients, working with other health care professionals (nurses, PAs, and therapists), and what the challenges and rewards are of working in the profession. You’ll learn how a health professional organizes their day, allows time for the unexpected, stays current in the profession, integrates personal and professional life, and manage the financial aspects of their practice.
Shadowing can also be crucial for a second reason: Having clinical experience allows admissions committees know that you have some understanding of what you are getting into. It also shows admissions officers your commitment to a health career because you have taken initiative in learning about being a professional prior to applying to school.
Center for Community Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Information Session. Seniors: come learn about applying to serve as the 2018-2019 Middlebury College Center for Community Engagement (CCE) full-time Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps VISTA member!
WHEN: Monday, April 23rd 2018, 4:15 pm – 5:00 pm
WHERE: Center for Community Engagement, Living Room
The position will start in August 2018. The VISTA member will support our youth and mentoring programs, find out more information at go/middvista and apply on Handshake.
We study economic mobility through lenses such as education, neighborhood environments, and health to understand the drivers of economic opportunity in the country and give local policymakers customized data and insights to help them craft effective policy solutions. (You can hear an overview of our work on this Freakonomics podcast.)
The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden (MVHMG) offers two summer Fellowships for undergraduate or graduate students interested in U.S. history, museum studies, museum education, material culture or other related fields.
The Work First Foundation and America Works seek highly motivated candidates with a passion for direct service and an interest in fighting poverty through employment.
Impact America – Alabama engages students and recent college graduates to address community needs, empowering a generation through collaborative efforts to promote change in the communities they serve.
