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Speaker 1: Excited a visit right now with Brianna with teammates, And
Speaker 1: first of all, I'm excited to chat with you. I've
Speaker 1: gotten a chance to visit with a few times. And
Speaker 1: I was familiar with teammates because we used to live
Speaker 1: in Nebraska and that's where it originated. But I bet
Speaker 1: there's at least one or two people listening right now
Speaker 1: that are going teammates. What in the world is that? So, Brianna,
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about teammates and what you
Speaker 1: guys do in Suo Falls.
Speaker 2: The Teammates Mentoring is a free, one to one school
Speaker 2: based mentoring program that matches a safe, caring adult with
Speaker 2: a young person. We work with kids who are in
Speaker 2: grade seconds through twelfth grade.
Speaker 1: So if I become a mentor of like a second grader,
Speaker 1: would I have that same student in third grader? Or
Speaker 1: would I have a different second grader next year.
Speaker 2: One of the things that Teammates apart is that we
Speaker 2: ask for a longer term commitment, so that helps the
Speaker 2: students know that you're going to be there the next year,
Speaker 2: and then you stay with them for as long as possible.
Speaker 2: Ideally it would be until graduation, but if for some
Speaker 2: reason that mentor could not continue, we would do everything
Speaker 2: we could to rematch that student as long as they
Speaker 2: wanted to stay in the program.
Speaker 1: I love that, and this is a really great program
Speaker 1: and it's been around for many, many many years in Nebraska,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited that we have this now in South Dakota.
Speaker 1: And I'm on the website here teammates dot org if
Speaker 1: you want to check it out. And if you're listening
Speaker 1: from anywhere in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming. You
Speaker 1: guys have chapters all over the place. Now. The majority
Speaker 1: of the people are probably listening in the Sioux Falls area.
Speaker 1: And again, if you talk to Brianna, she is the
Speaker 1: person that's in the coordinator executive director in this area.
Speaker 1: How many mentors could you use right now? Because you
Speaker 1: could use a few, couldn't you.
Speaker 2: Yes, Currently we've got over forty students on the wait list.
Speaker 2: The minute we fill those if we had extra, go
Speaker 2: to the schools and we say we have mentors available,
Speaker 2: and they would say, we have kids. So that is
Speaker 2: something that is a big thing. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: people that need support. But I think one of the
Speaker 2: other wonderful things that I love about Teammates is that
Speaker 2: it's a positive, strength based program. So when we do
Speaker 2: that intentional matching, we talk to the students about what
Speaker 2: they like, what their dreams are, what their hopes are,
Speaker 2: even if it's just something about anything they'd like to
Speaker 2: do in the future, and we try to find another
Speaker 2: adult who can match that. So, for example, if someone says, oh, gosh,
Speaker 2: I really love to be a police officer when I'm older,
Speaker 2: if there's a police officer available, I'd love to be
Speaker 2: able to connect them. So it's like an authentic connection.
Speaker 2: They have something in common. Yeah, they also like basketball
Speaker 2: and like to play uno. But you know, it's just
Speaker 2: whenever we can honor that, it's a really great way
Speaker 2: to keep it positive and that helps the relationship persevere
Speaker 2: over time.
Speaker 1: If somebody listening is going, hey, I would love to
Speaker 1: become a mentor, going to tell them how they can
Speaker 1: become a mentor here in just a second. But also
Speaker 1: if somebody listening is going, I love this program. It
Speaker 1: sounds like a great idea, but boy, I just don't
Speaker 1: have the time. There are other ways they can help
Speaker 1: as well. If they want to donate financially, that works
Speaker 1: as well, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Yes, we would love to have people donate. The national
Speaker 2: average goes with about four hundred and fifty to five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars to support one mentor men team match each year,
Speaker 2: and so that's a great way to donate. We also
Speaker 2: are always in need of four games that can be
Speaker 2: played by two people and card games Huno is the
Speaker 2: most popular. So anytime you want to pick up an
Speaker 2: Uno deck and donate it, that would be appreciated. Or
Speaker 2: people can choose to help us, like by volunteering when
Speaker 2: we are out presenting at IT events, those kinds of things.
Speaker 2: We appreciate anyone to be involved.
Speaker 1: Very nice. Now let's talk about becoming a mentor with teammates.
Speaker 1: What is the process, How does that work? And how
Speaker 1: do I get started?
Speaker 2: What you do is you go to our website and
Speaker 2: so you can go to Like you had said before,
Speaker 2: teammates dot org. Right on the front page there it
Speaker 2: says become a mentor. Once you click on that, it's
Speaker 2: going to ask you to fill out an application, so
Speaker 2: you need references. There's a background check. Once those references
Speaker 2: and background checks clear, then you go through an online
Speaker 2: training component that's self paced, and then you do an
Speaker 2: in person training and that's where we get to talk
Speaker 2: about what is the teammates mentoring focus, like when you're
Speaker 2: in person with your student how to be successful. And
Speaker 2: then you're ready to go and then we match you.
Speaker 2: So if you have any questions in that process, you
Speaker 2: can reach out to me. You can also reach out
Speaker 2: to teammates directly. They can answer your general questions. But
Speaker 2: the best way to do it is to apply online
Speaker 2: and then we start that process for you.
Speaker 1: I love that. Thank you so much for taking the
Speaker 1: time to chat. And again I encourage people to check
Speaker 1: this out. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you again.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to know more, the website teammates dot
Speaker 1: org and there's different chapters all over the place. So again,
Speaker 1: if you're in Thought Falls, you would be on the
Speaker 1: Seoue Falls chapter. But click and see if this is
Speaker 1: available in your area. As well again at the website
Speaker 1: teammates dot org. And Something you Should Know. Something you
Speaker 1: Should Know is brought to you by Genesisgoldra dot com.
Speaker 1: Put your retirement plan on the gold standard. Get a
Speaker 1: free gold and silver guide now at genesisgoldra dot com.