Chuck Licis-Masson, executive director of Monroe County Education Foundation and program coordinator for Take Stock in Children, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
Take Stock in Children took first place in their category for the hometown holiday parade.
Licis-Masson said, “We started this tradition, I guess it was about three or four years ago, and our students came to us and said, we would love to be in the parade. Is it possible? We worked with HTA. They generously contributed a conch train for our use, and the students did all the work themselves. They decorated, they created the design. They decorated the conch train. We had mentors and families who donated candy and helped with the expenses as well. And so it was completely student driven. Of course, you may have to have adult supervision, and so it was a lot of time put in by my success coach, as well. She spent some weekends at the school and after school hours as well to work with the students to make sure they did a great job. But it was a lot of fun. A huge parade.”
Take Stock in Children has been in the area for almost three decades.
Licis-Masson said, “We’ve been around for close to 25 years. It’s a statewide organization. There are 45 different affiliates covering all 67 counties. And our our program covers Monroe from Key Largo to Key West. We have students from Key Largo school in all of the schools in grades six through 12 down to Key West, including Basilica school and Somerset Island prep down here, as well as the College of the Florida Keys, the academy they have on their campus. We’re at 380 students. We brought in 81 students. We’re going to bring in more students after the first of the year, when the semester ends and we look at grades, we have some students on a wait list, so we’ll look at those students at the end of this term, determine if they can come into the program, if they meet those academic guidelines. Our students have to meet academic eligibility requirements, As, Bs and Cs, good attendance and good behavior and at least a 2.0 grade point average, and they also have to meet economic guidelines as well. So there’s on our website, a form that they can look at, flyer and shows the thresholds for families of how much they can earn, and if they cannot surpass that amount on their previous year’s taxes. So there is an income requirement as well for our scholarship.”
It’s the time of the year when seniors will be looking toward further education.
Licis-Masson said, “They’re receiving their acceptance letters. So this is the culmination of the program. We bring our students in in grades six through nine, and they meet with a volunteer mentor, one day a week, for about 30 minutes during the school year, we focus on college and career readiness workshops to get them ready for college and help them through the process, through middle school and high school, and when they hit 10th grade, we do a career assessment with them and to figure out, what do they like to do? What’s their passion? Do they want to go into a trade? Do they want to work with their hands? Do tey want to go into HVAC or construction or electrical or mechanics, or go into university and study something in particular, like engineering or or another field? So we work with the 10th graders. 11th graders, of course, you have the SAT and the ACT exams to get ready for college entrance. Seniors, we work, we have a binder that is a thick binder of, how do you apply to college, that all of our students receive. They have that at the end of junior year, go through that whole process, and they feverishly filled out those applications over the summer. Now is the time they get to sit back and look at the acceptances and sometimes a denial, sometimes they get the rejection letters as well, but they do receive a lot of acceptance letters and then they get to choose where are they going to go. Once they successfully complete our program, they have access to a Florida Prepaid scholarship that covers the tuition, local fees, as well as the possibility of a two year dormitory plan to help offset those housing costs for our kids for the first two years of their schooling. So it’s really an exciting time, and we’re looking forward to seeing all these acceptances roll in and to announce those on our Facebook page.”
Fundraising efforts are ongoing.
Licis-Masson said, “We started our fundraising campaign a couple months ago. We sent out a letter to all of our former donors and sent to new donors to possible donors. I’ve been in the Rotary Clubs, meeting with the Rotary members as well, up and down the Keys. To give a shout out to our Lower Keys Rotary. I was there last Friday, and they presented me a check for $7500 which will be matched immediately by Florida Prepaid. So there’s 15,000 there for scholarships, a significant purchase for students coming into our program. As well, as Ocean Reef, we have an event coming up. They have their Keys Children’s Foundation luncheon in January that we’ll attend and talk to the people up there and share what we do with Take Stock in Children and the difference we make in the Upper Keys. December 31 hits for many, if you have to take a withdraw from your IRA and make a contribution, a charitable contribution, often you do that before December 31 and we are in a fantastic opportunity, because your your contribution is matched by the state, so it’s automatically doubled towards scholarships, and it’s a great deduction. We also take stocks as well. So we have information on our website about how do you donate. You need to donate cash, or you can donate stock options as well. The stock market’s been doing really well, so if you have some stocks you’d like to donate, we can accept those as well. But we try to raise around $600,000 to $700,000 each year, and that keeps us pretty well even in terms of our intake. So our students coming into the program have to have a scholarship. So I’m looking at students now in fifth grade that are going to be in sixth grade next year, coming into the program, and I have to have a scholarship plan for them when they enter the program.”
Mentors are critical for Take Stock in Children.
Licis-Masson said, “Our mentors come from a variety of backgrounds. Our mentors are not tutors. We don’t expect them to tutor our students in this particular subject area. They’re not drivers or Uber drivers or ATM machines, either by giving them money. That’s off the table. What our mentors are, they’re caring adults that can listen, guide our students and help them find the answers to questions they have. So it’s really an adult who’s non judgmental, not a parent, not an authoritarian, not a teacher, not a principal, but someone you meet with once a week. You chat about life. What’s going on in the student’s world. I hear more and more from my mentors that they feel they’re getting more out of it as a mentor than they feel they’re giving as a mentor to the mentee, because they learn so much from the students and and it’s really invigorating to be around this generation. It’s an exciting time. There’s a lot of new opportunities. We have the development of AI and with what’s going on in technology and ever evolving landscape in terms of careers that it’s an exciting time to talk to kids, and they have a unique perspective. So that’s a lot of fun. And it’s only 30 minutes out of your week. You meet at the school campus, so you get to also get on school grounds and and feel the energy of the school with the kids as well. Down here in the Keys, we have great kids. They’re just fantastic. And even Take Stock kids in particular, they’re kind, courteous, respectful, and very eager to hear from an adult and learn from an adult. So I encourage you, if you are interested in doing that, to go to our website, and we have all the information as well on how to sign up to be a mentor. The academic year is nearly half over. Students will be in exams next week. I think some schools, high schools, are doing half days. So if you see older students running around town after noon, well that’s because they have half days. They’re out of school for their exams. And then schools are closed the week of the 22nd and the week of the 29th for the winter break, and then students go back to school on the sixth of January. Teachers, we go back on the fifth for professional day, then the students go back on the sixth of January, so they have a nice little break ahead of them.”
For more information, click here: https://monroecountyedfound.com/about-take-stock