Project MotiVATe is looking for mentors. That’s the Project MotiVATe poster to the right; click on it to see a full-sized copy.
Just what is Project MotiVATe you say? It’s this awesome program started by a number of Vietnamese-American college students a few years ago, and is still going strong in conjunction with OCAPICA.
The concept of Project MotiVATe is a little bit like the Big Brother Big Sister program. It matches mentors with young Viet teens, and to ensure the success of the mentorship, it requires that the teen must want to be there and participate in study hall.
Here’s an email the Bolsavik received from a Project MotiVATe participant. Oh yeah, and the capital letters in “MotiVATe” are short for “Mentoring Vietnamese American Teens.”
At this point, I usually prepare to deliver my well-practiced response to, “What’s that?”. Instead, she exclaimed, “Oh my god, you’re with Project MotiVATe?”
I had never received a response like that before, and all I could manage was a confused, “…Yes…”
Luckily, she didn’t notice my confusion and continued, “I have a friend named Jimmy and he used to be a mentee with you guys. I am so grateful for what Project MotiVATe has done for him and I’ve always wanted to a volunteer or mentor because of that, but I never knew how. I can’t believe you’re a part of Project MotiVATe, how do I join?”
After some weeks of rearranging her schedule, I think she is finally coming out to our next Study Hall!
It’s heart warming to hear these stories and be reminded that Project MotiVATe not only impacts the lives of youth in our community, but to all those connected to them presently and in their future. Thank you for supporting Project MotiVATe and being a community partner and advocate!
To find out more about Project MotiVATe and upcoming news and events, please visit www.projectmotivate.org
The email had the applicantions attached. You can find them on the projectmotivate.org web site. The “about us” page for Project MotiVATe is a little counter-intuitive to get there but you can get to it by clicking here.
That was a great post…I love this site.. Thanks