Share your passion: Become a Vancouver School Board Making Contact Mentor

Do you have a passion or an area of expertise? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be in university, expanding your knowledge and fine-tuning your skills. Do you want to find a way to share your passion/expertise in a meaningful way? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be visiting ENGAGE!

If you have a special talent you’d like to share, and enjoy working with children, you may want to mentor with the Vancouver School Board Making Contact Mentorship Program. The Making Contact program pairs gifted Vancouver elementary students (grades 4 – 7) who have a specific talent or interest with volunteer mentors (like you!) with the same talent or interest. Over several months (usually January to June), you’ll share your talents and knowledge with your student, and help them create a project in your area of mutual interest.

You‘ll be surprised by the number of different types of mentors the program is looking for, based on the interests of their participating students. I have volunteered for the program twice as a creative writing mentor, but there were so many other mentorships running at the same time including comedy, insects, filmmaking, history, marine biology, cartoons, animals, robotics, and even transit planning! The different subjects these gifted students are passionate about are so varied that you may not even be aware that your talent/knowledge (through your major/minor, your job, or even your hobbies) might make you a perfect match for a young Vancouver student. For a full list of the mentorships Making Contact is currently looking for, visit the Current Needs page on their website.

Making Contact is currently signing up mentors for their Spring 2013 program. I found sharing my passion with a young student with talent and potential an incredibly rewarding experience and I highly recommend it.

To find more information about the Making Contact Mentorship Program or to apply to be a mentor, please visit the VSB Making Contact website.

Lauren Kresowaty finished a BFA in Theatre Performance in 2009. She has since returned to SFU to study creative writing and English literature part-time. When she's not in class, you can usually find her at work in the Faculty of Education.