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Program KickOff

What is it?

At KickOff mentors meet their mentees and their families. The main purpose of this event is to introduce the mentors and the mentees to each other and to plan their participation in the program. This is a very important event because this will be your chance to make a good first impression to the mentees. The mentors will meet their mentees and the parents privately in a small group for about an hour. Here are a few suggestions on how you can prepare for this meeting:

• Write on a piece of paper (or use a business card) with your contact information such as name, email, phone numbers, address and hand one to the parents of your mentees. That way the parents will feel more secure because they will have a way to contact you in case they need to. Your mentees will also enjoy a business card!
• Begin by telling everyone a little bit about you, i.e. who you are, why you have decided to participate in the program, your hobbies, etc.
• Ask for the parents' contact information.
• Get everyone's email address, i.e. parents and mentees. Email is a great way to communicate and plan of your activities. If your mentees have thier own cell phone, text is another way to get them to communicate with you.
• Ask questions and get to know your mentees and especially their parents because this will be one of the only times you will spend with the parents.
• Come up with an ice-breaker to start off the discussion.
• Together with your mentees look through the WAM organized field trips list and see which ones you will be interested in doing together.
• Plan your first activity together!!!
• Encourage your mentees to get their own calendar where they can mark activities that they have planned with you. The mentees really like that idea because they are in charge of scheduling activities with you and writing them on their very own calendar. The parents also like that idea because they can see the planned activities at a glance. You could also buy small calendars and hand them out to your mentees.

When/Where?

Check the calendar for date,time,location :)