“It was Awesome!” say New Scholars
Matching Night Highlights Orientation Weeks that Prepare Scholars for High School and Beyond

June 30, 2010 – Between visits to the NCAA and IUPUI, community service projects at the Martin Luther King Community Center and Pride Park, and classes on algebra, essay writing and etiquette (yes, etiquette!), our new, incoming freshman class of Scholars hardly had time to breathe during the 2010 orientation weeks. And amid all that activity, Scholars learned what their strengths are and met their mentor for the first time.

The weeks of June 7, 14, and 21 were busier than usual at Starfish Initiative. In those weeks, the new class of Scholars – the Class of 2014 – received an intensive week-long orientation meant to prepare them for the rigors of high school, college, and even the workplace. Our new Scholars were divided into three groups and each group receives the same program of instruction – only the community service project differs each week.

Each day had a theme. Monday was Academics. Tuesday was Community Service; Wednesday, Careers. Thursday offered Etiquette, as well as Matching Night. And Friday was College Day, which included a trip to IUPUI and completing the “Drive of Your Life” assessment.

Every morning, students received math instruction and on Monday afternoon, a crash course on essay writing that will carry them into college. On Wednesday, each student completed the Clifton StrengthsFinder, a strengths-based assessment that will allow students to recognize what they are naturally good at and build upon that foundation. The fee for each student’s assessment was generously donated by long-time mentor Bob Parks. His gift can benefit these students literally for the rest of their lives.

On Thursday each week, Scholars also received intensive instruction on business and social etiquette which included everything from following a lady up an escalator (and expecting a gentleman to do so) to developing a firm handshake and eye contact during an introduction. This training was immediately put into public practice during a trip to the mall, while parents and new mentors gathered at the Starfish offices for Matching Night.

Parents met downstairs in the Webster Commons, and mentors upstairs in the training room for a bite to eat and final advice on building a mentoring relationship. When Scholars arrived back from the mall, parent, Scholar, and mentor laid eyes on one another for the first time. Within two minutes, the rooms were abuzz with conversation and laughter. In fact, each Thursday, it was difficult to break up the meeting and getting everyone to head home after each new mentor/Scholar pair set an appointment for their next meeting.

One mentor, Terry, sent us the following via email, minutes after he returned home from Matching Night: “The Thursday evening session I attended was impressive and effective, because of your level of personable professionalism. The effect was felt in creating a positive atmosphere for meeting, eating, and greeting between mentors and students.
“I personally thank you for the effort in making a match between [my Scholar] and myself,” he continued. “A ‘good’ match with much potential for both of us to grow and be enhanced by our times together.”

Lunch and recreation periods were good times to talk with the teens and see what they’re feeling. While everyone’s favorite activity differed – some liked the trip to the NCAA and hearing the speakers there, some liked the community service day, and some liked getting a bit of etiquette training – everyone pretty much spoke the same three words about orientation and matching: “It was awesome!”