Chuck Licis-Masson, with Take Stock in Children, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the program.
The second half of the school year has begun and Take Stock in Children is helping students. .
Licis-Masson said, “It’s a mentorship scholarship program for our economically disadvantaged students in those economically disadvantaged households that we do have here in the
Florida Keys. They need a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average. They are maintaining those grades as Bs and Cs, good attendance and good behavior. And when we bring them into the program, when they meet all the qualifications, economic and academic, we bring them into the program, and we match them with a trained mentor. So we have our 378 community volunteers throughout the county. They meet with their student, their mentee, for 30 minutes one day a week during the school year, so they’re back in force now, meeting with their kids this week. Because, as you know, school was closed last two weeks. Students came back Tuesday this week. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through our school year, and we’re now in second semester, the second part of our school year, but our mentors are meeting with the kids for 30 minutes during the school day, as I said, one day a week. A mentor, we don’t want someone who is an Uber or an ATM machine. That’s not your role. Nor do we want tutors. You’re not tutoring our students in math or science or English or any subject matter. What we really look for are those caring adults in our community who help our students learn to seek answers to questions, develop some good, critical thinking skills that are necessary. If they want to be a carpenter or electrician or an auto mechanic or a nurse or firefighter, you name it, we’ll help them on that path, as well as those who are interested in engineering and aerospace, sociology, all the other fields that are out there. We help our students on that pathway, and the mentors are pivotal in that process. They will see their students through high school graduation and beyond which is very special indeed.”
January is National Mentoring Month.
Licis-Masson said, “It falls very well into the school year, as I said, mid year through and our mentors, our new mentors, have been mentoring since the end of October, beginning of November, or we call veteran mentors, those who have been returning year after year, have been in the trenches now in the schools since August and September, and we just take a moment this month to thank our mentors, those 378 amazing individuals who give their time 30 minutes a week to meet with their students. And yesterday, I was at the Key West Business School. They invited me to be a speaker, and I talked a little bit about about that, about mentoring and the importance, and highlighted a few of our our mentors in our communities. We have doctors, we have lawyers, we have bankers, we have retirees, and we have a huge number of people who come down here, and spend our beautiful winters down here, and they mentor for us. And when they’re not here and they’re up north, we have an app. Take Stock is in the 21st Century, and they can mentor their student via the app while they’re away, so you don’t miss any mentor session. So they combine the in person with the virtual for the full school year. So it works out really well. I can’t say enough about our mentors. They’re just very unique, special individuals, and I really appreciate them giving the time to help guide our students through middle school, high school and getting into college and career.”
Are mentors always needed?
Licis-Masson said, “We do have a couple of vacancies currently. We recruit all year long. So because it’s a process, when a new mentor applies to be a mentor, they go through the application process, and then they have to go through the school district process, and the background check and to basically clear them, to be a volunteer, to have access to a student on campus. That can take about a month. Sometimes it’s a three to four week process. So knowing that we want to recruit our mentors all year long, have our reserve, because sometimes we have mentors who will have a job shift or my Coast Guard mentors, for example, they may have to leave mid year because their three years are up in the Keys, and they have to then go to a different a different post somewhere else in the country. So we have to replace that mentor for that student. And it’s nice to have mentors ready to go as we bring students in or we have vacancies because of a mentor who’s leaving. We have students who have gone through Take Stock, and children have graduated from college, who have come back to the Keys and who are now mentoring, which is wonderful. So, if you’re interested, if you can give 30 minutes a week, we may not have a student for you tomorrow, or maybe not even next month, but we can guarantee you that you will be assigned a student within four to five months. And as we bring students in, and have those vacancies occur, we’d love to have you.”
Donations can also help.
Licis-Masson said, “Every dollar that we raise is matched by Florida Prepaid, by the state of Florida, towards those scholarships our students use. And the beauty of our program is, is we do not write checks to kids. Kids do not receive cash. They receive an account number, Florida prepaid tuition account that covers 120 credit hours, and they give that number to the Financial Aid Office of their school and school bills for prepaid directly, so there’s no money exchanged between students, but we cover their full tuition. We have 1,186 students at this point, that is over $27 million if you look at the average state tuition for four years and multiply that out, this foundation has supported over 1,000 students and awarded over 27 million in scholarships.”
For more information, click here: https://monroecountyedfound.com/about-take-stock