National Mentoring Month: Meet Our Mentors
At Growing Kings we recognize the difficulty behind recruiting mentors, especially ones who can serve on a one-on-one basis. So, as part of our unique approach to mentoring Birmingham’s underserved youth, we look to remedy the problem by providing group-based services. Once a week, for one hour, our students take a break from their regular school day to meet with a Growing Kings’ program manager, who is responsible for implementing our curricula. And serving alongside them are mentors like Neil Kelly, a Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine Ph.D candidate at UAB , and Corey Green, a Small Business Development Officer for BB&T.
Meet Neil Kelly
Neil Kelly first heard about Growing Kings during the 2013 Fall UAB Civic Engagement Fair where he met, our then volunteer coordinator, Justin Williams. After attending the initial mentor orientation led by Williams, Kelly knew right then he wanted to be a part of Growing Kings.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect – I was a bit apprehensive at first, since I didn’t know how the kids would respond to me. However, since working with GK my apprehension has given way to excitement each week,” says Kelly. And the 4th and 5th grade students at Carrie A. Tuggle Elementary Schools certainly reciprocate his sentiment. Every Friday morning at Tuggle Elementary, Kelly helps facilitate our Prince Charming program, which focuses on students’ reading and mathematics comprehension.
When asked about his experience with the program, Kelly responds, “[It] has been fantastic. I really enjoy interacting with both the participants and the staff. As a PhD. candidate at UAB, GK allows me the opportunity to disconnect from the ivory tower setting of biomedical research and focus my perspective on the real issues facing underserved male youth in the Birmingham area.”
Through his work with Growing Kings, Kelly hopes to share his passion for learning, as education, Kelly feels, “is so important for the success in today’s society.”
Meet Corey Green
Corey Green has been working with the eighth grade students at Malakai Wilkerson Middle School since they were in the sixth grade. He first heard about Growing Kings from GK Executive Director, Marcus Carson. He later attended a mentoring training session and adds, “I really felt like this was something that I could really contribute to. I grew up in an environment like these guys and know that [they] definitely need more positive folks in front of [them].”
Green cites his father as bei
ng his hero while growing up, and it was because of his father’s presence in the household that helped foster valuable morals in him, such as hard work and determination. These are the same moral foundations Green hopes to instill in the Measures of a Man group at Wilkerson Middle School.
“Your character is more sustainable than your talent,” Green tells a room full of young boys. Often times, in a room full of eager middle school students Green finds the best opportunities to share with them some his personal and professional experiences. “Every time you have an opportunity,” Green says, “to go into an environment where you’re different, take that as an advantage.” He continues, “Really show character, which is something that’s a big deal to me, and a big deal to most folks.”
When asked to share a memorable mentoring moment, Green speaks highly of his cohort of students. “What’s been awesome for me is this group, in particular. And just, the light in their eyes. You know, all of them at least some kind of an idea of what they want to do in life.” Green continues, “I know they’re challenged to think through things, but for them to be 6th and 7th graders and for them to think about things that they’re talking about now, that is a win in my book. It gives me encouragement and hope for our future to see, you know, at some point, some segment of our population is going to get it. And so, I’m just impressed by it.”
If you, or someone you know is interested in mentoring underserved male youth in Birmingham City Schools, visit www.GrowingKings.org/AllTheKingsMen.