About Communities In Schools of
Kent:
Communities
In Schools of Kent, also known as CISK, is a local affiliate of the nation’s
leading dropout prevention organization. CISK works within schools in the the
Kent School District, including 18 schools in Kent and Covington. Our mission
is to surround students with a community of support empowering them to stay in
school and achieve in life. CISK places a dedicated Site Coordinator in partner
schools, who work with the administration and staff to determine student needs.
We have Site Coordinators in 8 schools this year and they establish
relationships with local businesses, social service agencies, health care
providers and parent and volunteer organizations to provide needed resources to
the students and their families. In the high school setting our Site
Coordinators also work with local businesses to provide internships for
students to gain real world work experience and help with college
planning/post-graduation planning.
CISK trains
community volunteers to mentor one-on-one with students, based on background
and interests. These mentors meet once a week with their student during the
school day, and provide them with a caring adult relationship, which is shown
to be critical to student success. You do not need to have previous experience
in mentoring to help these young students. CISK also has a few mentors that
meet with small groups of students this year, that tend to be more topic based,
and reach a larger number of students within your once a week mentoring
session. (Groups/topics currently include- finance, identity, college
transition, gender specific) New this year we are also in need of mentors for
the students in the Mechatronics Maintenance program at Kent Phoenix Academy
affiliated with GRCC. These students are learning to manage the complex
maintenance needs of manufacturing equipment in the aerospace industry and
beyond. Mentors with management, manufacturing or aerospace technology would be
a great fit.
Testimonial from
Linda Smith, Covington Chamber Ambassador and Mentor for CISK:
I have been
a mentor for 6 years and have helped 8 young women complete their high school
education and 5 of them have started college or trade school. One young women has come back to be a mentor
last year.
When I was
asked to become a mentor, I had no idea what mentoring would entail. To me, it seem a daunting idea. What would I talk to them about? How would I navigate the generation gap? What could I offer them? Would they want to spend an hour a week with
an adult they don’t know?
Well, it
turned out to be so simple. You make a
commitment to them to be there, and then you let them lead the way. Each one is
different with their fears, hopes and dreams. What happens after graduation? This is the most mentioned topic to
explore. It opens the doors to
discussions on various ideas. Most of
us have life experiences to relate to them. You are not in this alone, Communities in Schools is there to help and
work with you.
It’s the
most rewarding volunteer work I have ever done. It’s such a good feeling to see them receive their diplomas and look to
the future with renewed faith in themselves, and the attainable goals they have
set.
I
would encourage you to become a mentor. As you make an impact on the life of a young person, it makes an impact
on you too.
For more information about CISK:
