Orange County Public Schools

At a recent event, Find Your Voice students at Apopka Memorial Middle School practiced etiquette and celebrated their successes.
 

Profile: Mentoring Initiative Helps Teen Girls Find Their Voices
By Renee Burke 

 If you have some time, Sasha Wallace has countless success stories she’d love to share with you. Perhaps one of them will inspire you to become a mentor, too. For the past seven years, Wallace has taught English Language Arts at Apopka Memorial Middle, where she once attended. This is her sixth year as the Find Your Voice sponsor at Apopka Memorial Middle School, and Wallace is proud of what the club has accomplished.

“Being a mentor and mentoring, in general, enriches your life. Every person can benefit from it, regardless of age or background. It helps activate one’s potential and is often a more favorable mirror. It shows you things you may not have seen,” Wallace said. “I am grateful that I can do this for young girls, but they also do it for me. They help me be a better person and teacher.”  

Ashely’s* story is one that gives Wallace pride. As a middle school student, Ashely had a difficult home situation. Due to transportation and job constraints, her family moved around a lot. Ashely had to take two buses to and from school. Spending hours of her day on a bus and not being able to do homework during that time, she was failing her classes. Wallace worked with Ashely and the family for her to participate in FYV. Ashley thrived. She learned the skills needed to balance school and life responsibilities. Her disciplinary record and grades began to improve, and she became accountable to herself. She is now a senior in high school, has a job, car, and apartment of her own, cares for her younger sister with lupus, and has a full-ride to FAMU. Ashely told Wallace at a recent visit that she was grateful for the support and safety net FYV provided to her during those formative years.

In 2016, the Minority Achievement Office created Find Your Voice (Value, Overcome, Integrity, Commitment, Enthusiasm) to help middle school girls with discipline and grades issues rehabilitate their reputation. Working with adult mentors, teen girls learned goal-setting, poise, how to build relationships, and service leadership. The girls’ dedication to the program increased their self-worth, as well as their academic standing. The program has evolved over time and its current focus has shifted to providing teens a place to learn, grow, and love who they are, as well as the opportunity to be leaders in their community through acts of service and charity. Under the guidance of a caring adult, the club continues to empower young girls to have a voice in their school, neighborhood, and beyond.

Today, AMMS’ FYV has 40 active members (and a waiting list) who collaborate on self-improvement, social-emotional supports, and bettering their environment. Members participate in bi-weekly workshops, campus beautification and Thanksgiving food drives. They make posters and murals for heritage and awareness months, teacher goodie bags, take refinement courses, celebrate staff successes, and offer peer motivation through assigned sister partnerships.

Wallace is grateful for the handful of high school mentors who consistently attend meetings to provide guidance to the middle school girls, yet she’d love to have more to create a smaller mentor-to-mentee ratio. In addition to helping with the week’s agenda, the high school girls share helpful insights on what to expect freshman year. Once on campus, the high school mentor is a person the freshman can go to for advice, as well as serving to ease their anxiety of being on a large, unfamiliar campus. Simply having this connection alleviates many of the girls’ misgivings.

If you know of a high school girl who would be interested in mentoring at a middle school, encourage them to contact their local school to inquire about the Find Your Voice club. 

*Only providing first name to respect student’s privacy