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ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT CHANGES Anyone working with pre-teens and teens finds out very quickly that their moods can go up and down. Adolescents go through a ton of changes --- physical, mental, social and emotional. Adolescence can be a challenging time. As a mentor, you play a key role in providing support to adolescents. This article shares some changes the adolescent experiences and identifies key protective factors that can help provide support to this group. Perhaps physical changes are the most obvious. Adolescents go through puberty when their body changes from that of a child to that of an adult. Normally puberty occurs between 10-11 for girls and 12-13 for boys. Adolescents go through mental changes as well. As a teen develops his or her thinking, the thinking takes on more depth, more independence. Typically children will accept what they are told. For adolescents they now want to explore, problem solve, analyze and the part of the brain that is responsible for decision making develops during adolescence. There are also social changes. Youth begin to explore who they are and who they want to be. Friends become more of an influence than family and they explore relationships. Adolescents deal with the pressures of social groups and learn how they respond to different types of people. Finally, there are emotional changes. Emotions can change quickly. Adolescents can be more impulsive and willing to take risk which contributes to emotions changing quickly. There are certain protective factors that will help an adolescent navigate this period of life. Mentors can be and are a huge support as they are a stable, trusted friend which is important in the teen’s life. Below is a list of protective factors: Healthy practices Good problem solving skills Feeling in control in their own life Spirituality Avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs Consistent home/family routine Parental/family support High monitoring of youth’s activities Good self-esteem Having a good social system Economic security Availability of constructive recreation Community bonding Feeling close to at least one adult Regular school attendance and academic performance A mentor can help with many of these areas! Take a few minutes this month to talk with your match coach about these protective factors. Most likely, you are doing many of these things without even knowing it!
SOURCE:: Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Missouri Department of Mental Health, and National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (2012) Youth Mental Health First Aid USA for Adults Assisting Young People
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
RAVE ABOUT YOUR LITTLE! Jerrion (left) and his Big Brother, John
“I have been matched with Jerrion for four years now, and his greatest improvements are focused around selfesteem and academics. Jerrion has improved his grades from C’s, D’s & F’s, to A’s & B’s. We have a gentleman’s agreement going. If he gets all of his assignments completed and turned in on time (verified through my weekly visits with Jerrion’s teacher), I bring him Hungry Hobo Waffle Cheese Fries. This school-work agreement forged a bit of accountability on Jerrion’ s behalf and helped him to achieve honor roll last semester. He wants to get a 4.0 this semester. We continue to work on the total package (work hard, play hard & respect). “
Adolescent Development Changes RAVE about your Little January Match Anniversaries Dear Match Coach—Sharing Personal Life Get to know BBBS—Karen Koslick Career Navigators—January Tours Michael’s Fun World—Pictures! Macomb BBBS Updates What’s up in Whiteside County
Snowbird Softball Classic 2014 HAVlife—Does your Little want to dance? Match Activity Ideas—January Plant Sale Gift Certificates Order BBBS T-Shirts Bigs’ Night Out—January 7th Putt-A-Round—Jan. 20—23 Community Calendar—January
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JANUARY MATCH ANNIVERSARIES!
LITTLE’S NAME
Krysta Shawna Brandon Jayce Shyanna Alex Trista Joe Devin Hannah Aiden Renee Jacklyn Preston Courtney Ronnie Colin George Josiah Nathan Alexa Clever Dominick Sylvia Jennifer Nacari Shitterian Nyla Malik Jaevion Malik
BIG’S NAME
Monica Chanda Rick Shane Michelle Kirk Meghan Harry Gary Sarah Peter Julie Kim Blake Kathy Marie Joe Rob Robert Tom Susan Sheila Daniel Toni Maya Kristen Stefanie Marion Darrick Michael Jeff
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YEARS
Mesa Dowell Brammer Huff Frederick Denison Enright Coin Moler Hackbarth Hoft Landwehr DeClercq Schaeffer Doyle Donaldson Witter Pearson Behm Cassidy Wilson Guse Matthies Gasper Webb Decker Kincaid Zakrzewski Cooper Vollbrecht Waller
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Sponsored by:
COME AND JOIN US! If you are celebrating an anniversary with your Little, please join us on Wednesday, January 15, 5 to 6 p.m. at the BBBS offices 130 W. 5th St., Davenport and celebrate your Match Anniversary!
DID YOU KNOW? Every time a child drops out of school it costs our community $525,000 in lost tax revenue, increased expense due to crime, incarceration, and inefficient use of our health system. Dropouts also spend much
less as consumers.
ASK A CO-WORKER OR FRIEND TO BECOME A BIG BROTHER OR BIG SISTER IN 2014!
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DEAR MATCH COACH: SHARING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE How much of your personal life is OK to share with your Little? This is one question that continuously comes up, and in all honesty it really depends on the relationship you have established with your Little. Consider your comfort level and the emotional maturity of the child.
The best advice we can give you, is when in doubt call a Match Coach at our office. We would be happy to help you work through what is and is not appropriate to share with your Little.
Common personal information that Bigs often share with their Littles include: whether or not they have children, if they are married and what their hobbies include. Some Bigs will share about their own childhood experiences as well as losses that they have suffered; such as the death of an animal or family member, if they find that information to be appropriate or relevant to the conversation. Inappropriate personal information would include: sharing a conflict that you are facing in your personal relationship, asking your Little for advice about your personal relationship and/or discussing work conflict.
GET TO KNOW: KAREN KOSLICK—CUSTOMER RELATIONS ASSISTANT Name: Karen Koslick Position: Customer Relations Assistant How long have you been with BBBS? 1 year 2 months. What is your favorite memory during the time you have been with BBBS? My favorite memory since I’ve been with BBBS is getting a Little in the School-based program. I was so excited to meet her. She is like the granddaughter that I’ve never had (yet). It is really fun having lunch at school with her. We do fun activities like play games, color, play with Barbie paper dolls and more. What do you like to do when you are not working? What I like to do when I am not working is watch TV, go on the internet, exercise, and be with my family. I am also involved in our apartment committee meetings and activities where we have fun events like pot roasts and pizza parties. In addition, I like to keep company with my cat, Keegan! What advice would you give a child who is in our program? The best advice I can give a child in our program is to stay in school. Every job requires a high school degree or GED now. I think high school is the best time of every child’s life; it’s where you can go to the prom and sports games so don’t drop out. Yeah education!
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LOADS OF FUN AT MICHAEL’S FUN WORLD DURING OUR DECEMBER MATCH ACTIVITY! Community-Based Matches with Littles in 6th through 12th grades!
JOIN US FOR CAREER NAVIGATOR SITE VISITS! Career Navigators activities are designed to help Bigs “navigate” Littles through the exploration of career interests and encourage academic and social success. These are simple, one hour experiences of business and educational opportunities in the QCA.
CONTACT YOUR MATCH COACH TO REGISTER 563-323-8006
Date: January 22, 2014 Workplace Tour: The Brandt Company (formerly Fidlar Printing) Address: 1515 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52807 Time: 4:15 – 5:15 pm Meeting Area: main entrance Contact: Marc Brandt Attention Bigs with 9th and 10th grade Littles! We are beginning to explore Job Shadow opportunities for your Little. We will be presenting a “Pre-Job Shadow Workshop” that you and your Little can attend in January or February. More details will be coming your way!
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HELLO FROM SNOWY DOWNTOWN MACOMB!
Since the last issue of Coaches Corner, the Macomb office has been a whirlwind of excitement. Tons happened. It’s hard to keep it all straight. Let’s have a look:
At Lincoln, 3 child interviews were conducted and 4 new matches made! Here are two of them.
Here are some photos at Edison where 8 new matches were made!
And we’re very happy to announce that the Bushnell Rotary has stepped up and will be our first BBBS at Bushnell-Prairie City Elementary! 6 interviews
MACOMB BBBS BOARD We had our monthly Board meeting on Monday 2 December at City Hall in Macomb. BBBS staff gave a status report regarding RTBM volunteers and children, those who are still in the process, and further recruiting. The majority of our time was spent discussing final preparations for the Christmas party, to be held Sunday 8 December 2013, 2-4PM, at the Prairie View Community Center. We finished up with a discussion of ideas for a spring fund-raiser event. More to come on that.
have been conducted, and at least 2 more are coming. Kudos to the good people of Bushnell for getting involved in this worthy cause!
CHECK THIS OUT! 3 undergraduate students from WIU’s Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Management Department met with BBBS staff to discuss their ideas for future fund-raising. Maybe most valuable were the connections made. Thanks to WIU’s RPTA Department and Dr. Dean Zoerink for the help. 5 more volunteer interviews were conducted. Good people just keep coming in. Best of all, we held our annual BBBS Christmas party on Sunday 8 December! A huge, wonderful, jolly affair. Alpha Sigma Tau baked hundreds of cookies, decorated the Community Center, and helped to make the event a success. Bigs, Littles, husbands and wives, parents, siblings, communitymembers, and SANTA all braved a snowstorm to join us. It was not all eating, drinking, and being merry though, we also made “anonymous” Christmas cards to be delivered to the folks at Fitch Manor Retirement Community. With some help from the Wee Care Daycare, Team BBBS produced 72 cards that will bring holiday cheer to those who may need it. Thanks to all the Macomb Board members who made and collected donations, and special
thanks to Paula Rhodes (long-time Board member) for going far above the call of duty for our Christmas celebration. We could not have succeeded without Paula’s help, and we owe her a huge debt of gratitude. It is with much sadness that we bid farewell to our intern Emily Smith. The semester is finished, and as such Emily needs to move on. We did everything we could to convince her to continue working for us for free, but there are great things on the horizon for this young community leader; Emily has been elected the Philanthropy Chair of Alpha Sigma Tau, and no one is more deserving. Emily worked wonders for us this year, organizing the office painting and the Christmas party. She is a spectacular human being, and we wish her every success in life. We’re going to keep bringing people together; that’s what we do. More new matches are on the way. Check our Facebook page for all the latest updates:
https://facebook.com/ bigbrothersbigsistersofmcdonoughcounty
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WHAT’S UP IN WHITESIDE COUNTY?
Free Event with Coloma Township Park District - Snow Sculpture Contest (Contact CTPD for details) Silver Skates Ice Skating Derby and Snowball Archery FREE Event - 1:30-3pm at Centennial Park Lagoon in Rock Falls Sauk Valley Community College’s Casino night 5p-11p Firehouse Ministries Breakfast and Bake Sale fundraiser for new roof. Support them at the Rock Falls Community Building, 601 W 10th St in RF from 7a-Noon FREE Event- Woodlawn Performing Arts Academy’s Winter Music Recital 1pm at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1701 16th Ave in Sterling
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Community Celebration of Peace and Justice in honor of Martin Luther King call 815-625-0333 for more information about this event Youth Bowling Tournament (NO School for Martin Luther King day) 10a-1p at Paone’s Blackhawk Lanes. Pre-register with Coloma Township Park District Fourth Fridays in Downtown Sterling Ladies Night Out at Sauk Valley Community College- call SVCC to register
NEW MATCHES IN WHITESIDE COUNTY:
Susie and Laura
Karlie and Loni
Gage and Jeff
BIG NEWS FOR WHITESIDE COUNTY MATCHES! With the partnership of Big Brothers Big Sisters, HAVLife, Shirley Vazquez who is the Director of Youth Services for Sterling Township’s Center for Youth, and Patrick Stramka from the Sauk Valley Martial Arts Academy, and Lucas McKinney from Tech Toys & Wireless, a local Little will be attending the academy for one year on scholarship. With the scholarship from the academy and the combined donations from HavLife and Tech Toys & Wireless, Anthony’s tuition and uniform will be fully paid for. Because Patrick supports the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, he is providing this offer to any BBBS Little who would like to attend the academy. He said that martial arts is so much more than a physical contact sport. It teaches you self-discipline, respect, courtesy, perseverance, commitment, and self-control and with it comes a whole new positive peer group and self-confidence. To maintain the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Patrick is offering Bigs a special price of only $20 per month (with no commitment) for Bigs to join their Littles in the martial arts classes. This has been an exciting month for Anthony and his Big, Scott. They recently celebrated their one year anniversary of being transitioned to the community based program and discussed the martial arts opportunity and two weeks later, Anthony enrolled in the program. Congratulations and best wishes to this match and to Anthony. If any Bigs think their Little might be interested in joining the
Sauk Valley Martial Arts, please contact Loni at (815) 441-9118 so we can work with the Center for Youth to gain more business sponsorships.
ABOVE: Anthony (left) and his Big, Scott. RIGHT: Patrick Stramka (left) with Anthony at Sauk Valley Martial Arts Academy
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Hosted by:
Presented by:
SIGN UP YOUR TEAM TODAY FOR SNOWBIRD!
The Ugly Duckling
Co-Ed Tournament: Friday-Sunday, January 24—26, 2014 Men’s Tournament: Friday-Sunday, February 7—9, 2014
and other dances Saturday, January 25
Team Cost: $160 (minimum 8 people up to 20 person team. Co-ed team 50% women)
Bettendorf High School
For registration form go to: www.thedugoutsportscomplex.com OR, go to www.bbbs-mv.org and click on events and Snowbird!
1:30 p.m. at Performing Arts Center
Special Price for BBBS Matches $22 Adult / Little gets in FREE! (Regular $22 adult / $12 child)
Tournament held at The Dugout 3504 Hickory Grove Rd., Davenport, IA
Call Ballet Quad Cities 309-786-3779 for tickets
ASK YOUR MATCH COACH ABOUT HAVlife! There are many exciting opportunities for children to get involved within the Quad Cities. Sports, music, or the arts. Unfortunately, those activities sometimes just cost too much, and the child ends up disappointed and with lost potential. BBBS has partnered with the HAVlife Foundation to ensure that any Little who wants to be involved in an extra-curricular activity has the ability to do so. The HAVlife Foundation exists to help bridge the financial gap and eliminate “lost potential” in students by providing funds for various activities in athletics, music and arts. Need ideas? BBBS maintains a list of available activities that might interest your Little. Contact your Match Coach to learn more.
DANCE LESSONS! Would your Little be interested in dance lessons? We can check with the school of dance at Ballet Quad Cities and see if a HAVlife grant can help! Let your Match Coach know!
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MATCH ACTIVITY IDEAS: THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR LITTLE Start the year off on the right foot with these fun ideas to try with your Little! School-Based matches: Make a New Year’s resolution pertaining to your match and set some mentoring goals together. Spend a few visits putting together a model car or airplane. Play “Hangman” or “Tic-Tac-Toe” on a dry erase board/chalkboard.
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Community-Based matches: Check out some of the outdoor ice-skating rinks in the Quad Cities. Go tubing or sledding together. Warm up with hot chocolate afterwards! Visit a nursing home and read, sing to, or just simply sit and visit with the residents. Plan a game night. Enjoy board games, Wii games, or even head somewhere to play pool or darts. Make a New Year’s resolution pertaining to your match and set some mentoring goals together.
Help grow graduation rates! Give a plant sale gift certificate as a gift!
When you are thinking about May 11th. Most hanging baskets or flats giving a gift to a friend, relative, co will cost $17.00. -worker or anyone else, think about giving the gift of flowers! If you would like to order a gift certificate please call Kayla at 563-323-8006 or email Plant Sale gift certificates can be her at kkiesey@bbbs-mv.org. purchased (for any amount) now and used this spring at our Plant Sale held May 3—
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BIGS’ NIGHT OUT JANUARY 7th LOWER LEVEL HOTEL BLACKHAWK 200 E. THIRD STREET DAVENPORT, IA
Sign up now for Bigs’ Night Out! Enjoy a fun-filled evening of bowling and networking at our January Bigs’ Night Out. The fun runs from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
No Charge and includes appetizers!
Sign up for Putt today!
Bring a friend or co-worker who might be interested in volunteering! Call 563-323-8006 to sign up or email Jaime at jkeller@bbbs-mv.org
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR — JANUARY 2014 5
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QC Botanical Ctr. Chocolate Festival
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TEEN IRON CHEF COMPETITION
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Putt-A-Round MATCH NIGHT
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Snowbird Softball Co-Ed
Ballet Quad Cities performs Ugly Duckling
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OUT AND ABOUT IN THE QUAD CITIES! JANUARY Sunday, January 5- Visit the Quad City Botanical Center’s Chocolate Festival. The event runs from 11 am – 4 pm. Learn about the history of chocolate, enjoy a cooking demonstration, meet Willy Wonka and enjoy samples of area chocolates! Visit http://www.qcgardens.com/Chocolate_Festival_Jan_5.php to learn more.
Game On” at the Fairmount Branch Library every Wednesday at 3:00 pm. This weekly program allows teens to hang out and have fun playing on the Wii, PS3 and more! Call 563-326-7832 for more information. Enjoy outdoor ice skating at Moline’s Center Ice at Bass Street Landing. Check out http://centericequadcities.com/ for pricing and session information.
Friday-Sunday, January 10-12 – Bald Eagle Days returns to the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. Hours are Friday 4-8 pm, Saturday 10 am - 8 pm, and Sunday 10 am- 5 pm. Admission is $5 for Outdoor ice skating is also available at Middle Park Lagoon locatadults and $1 for kids. For more information, visit ed on Parkway Drive in Bettendorf. This is free for the public, but www.qccaexpocenter.com. for safety reasons, the ice thickness must reach 6” or greater before the Bettendorf Parks and Rec Departments will approve Monday, January 13- Ages 12-18 are invited to participate in the skating activities. The light above the warming house will be Rock Island Library’s Teen Iron Chef Competition. Test your culi- green when it’s safe to skate and red when it is not safe. nary skills against other teens and create unique dishes for the judges. Competition begins at 6:30 pm. For more info call the Saturday, January 25— 1:30 p.m. Ballet Quad Cities performs the library at 309-732-7323. Ugly Duckling and other dances at Bettendorf High School Performing Arts Center. Call Ballet Quad Cities 309-786-3779 for Wednesday, January 8,15,22,29- Teens are invited to “Get Your tickets
ASK A FRIEND, FAMILY MEMBER OR CO-WORKER ABOUT BEING A BIG!