Chuck Licis-Masson, County Program Coordinator for Take Stock in Children and the Executive Director of the Monroe County Education Foundation joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the program.
Applications are still being accepted for Take Stock in Children.
Licis-Masson said, “That window is still open. So we’re looking for students who may be eligible for the program. They have to meet income eligibility requirements, so a family of four can’t make more than around $70,000, ballpark figure. The exact figures are on our website. They have to meet income eligibility requirements, but then also they have to meet academics. So they have to have a 2.0 minimum grade point average, A’s, B’s and C’s in their previous quarters, in their classes. They have to have good attendance and good behavior and willingness to focus and work on their schooling and meet with a mentor one day a week, which is really the crux and the foundation of our program is our mentoring program. We do have scholarships for our students when they do graduate from high school and they successfully complete a program, they’re eligible for a Florida Prepaid two plus two scholarship that will cover tuition and local fees at any of the 28 state colleges or 12 state universities in Florida, and plus a two year dorm plan. So when parents hear that, that’s the goal for the parents, because it really helps with that expense, but for the student, it’s that that weekly mentoring, one day a week, for 30 minutes, the mentor meets with the student, and the student learns how to navigate school, navigate life, learn self advocacy skills, time management, test taking skills. It’s really a person who that student can talk to, bounce ideas off of and learn some tools of the trade, so to speak, so they can be ready for college. The mentor is not a tutor. So if you’re listening out there and think, boy, I’d love to meet with a student one day a week, but I don’t want to tutor in math or English or history. You don’t have to do that. That’s not what that all is all about. It’s basically having a conversation with an adolescent one day a week and helping them through the process. We train our mentors. We support our mentors with college success coaches. You meet on campus during the school day, during the school year. So there’s no summer commitment, there’s no weekend commitment or evening commitments. It’s only one day a week for 30 minutes during the school year on school grounds.”
Take Stock in Children makes a big, big difference in these students’ lives.
Licis-Masson said, “Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, and in some cases, the parents want a better life for their children, and they’re unable to provide that life currently. It’s a high cost of living down here in the Keys and the Florida Keys and if you’re in hospitality industry or other industries, or landscaping or you name it, you’re not making six figures. You’re really struggling to get by and to make sure that you’re providing for your children and this scholarship opportunity provides that lift, that help to get them into college and to earn a college degree and you don’t have that burden, that financial burden of paying for college as a parent, because the students are earning that scholarship that we fundraise for and those are state matched scholarships. They’re unique scholarships for Florida Prepaid. They cover 50% of the costs in the foundation. My foundation covers the other 50% so it’s a public private partnership. It really works well, where I raise around $500,000 to $600,000 each year to purchase scholarships for new students coming into the program, because we have to have a scholarship for every student in the program, which I have about 350 kids now in the program. So we have 350 scholarships waiting for those students, and when they graduate, they have access. So that’s really the main goal is to help improve the lives of our kids in our community through college and through career. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bachelor’s degree or an associate’s degree. It could be a career certificate. I have students who go on and they learn diesel mechanics, marine mechanics, HVAC, electric lineman, nursing, paramedic, firefighting, police, you name the field, we will help our students through that process and the goal, again, i for them to find a career, find what they love doing, and they’re passionate about and earn money and be a productive member of our community, whether it’s here in Monroe County or in Florida or beyond.”
The benefits of being a mentor are boundless.
Licis-Masson said, “Our mentors love it. There may be some trepidation at the beginning, because it’s a little bit awkward, you’re going on school grounds, you’re meeting with a 13 year old and what do you have to talk about? But it’s amazing. You can find a lot to talk about. It’s wonderful to see the world through the eyes of a 13 year old and then for the mentor to provide some guidance, some wisdom, some advice and some suggestions on how that student can navigate school and what they need to do to be successful in college and career. It is a highlight for our mentors, that 30 minutes a week, it’s a highlight to get away from work. Our mentors come from all sorts of backgrounds. They’re either working in the Keys or they retired, and they’re down here seasonally. So if you’re here seasonally, from October through April, you may also qualify to be a mentor, because you have the time to do that while you’re here and we can bookend, so to speak, the mentoring sessions at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year through our mentoring app. So Take Stock has an app, and you can do a FaceTime mentoring with your mentee when you’re away. So even though it’s one day a week, if you are away, even traveling for two weeks, you can still maintain contact and maintain those mentors while you’re traveling. Our mentors love it. They really do. They gain a lot out of it. And we have mentors who come back year after year. They’ll follow a student through from sixth grade to 12th grade, and then they’ll pick another kid up. After their student graduates, they’ll say, oh, sign me up for another four years or six years. So a mentor may come in, and it could be a two year commitment. You could be assigned to an 11th grade student for two years, or six or seven year commitment, depending on where you come into the program, where that student is in the grade levels, to the mentor. We do our best also to match up mentors with students who have similar interests. So if I have a student who is interested in a particular career field, and I have a person who’s retired from that career field, and they want to mentor, we can match them up and that’s a wonderful thing as well, because the mentor can guide the student on what that student needs to do and know for that career and have a conversation around that.”
The time is now for seniors to look into financial aid.
Licis-Masson said, “Financial aid is really for all seniors. It’s not only low income students, but also all students. It’s the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid and most universities, when you apply, you apply for financial aid, and you have to fill out the FAFSA. It opens December 1, the students will have to apply for a pin. They have to go online to fafsa.gov. Make sure it’s a free site. If parents, you hop on to Google FAFSA, and you click on a link and it asks for money, it’s the wrong website, because this is free from the federal government. You get your ID and you fill out the paperwork online, the application, and for our students, they may be eligible for Pell Grant money, which is about $7,000 a year through the federal government based on income. There are also other scholarships available to students. If your parent has served in the military or was wounded or killed in the military, there might be some scholarships available through the federal government for that or other categories. So I encourage all seniors to fill out that form, because you never know what money is available to you to help with your schooling and education in college.”
For more information, click here: https://monroecountyedfound.com/about-take-stock