The DREAM Program, The Blue Wagon, July, 2012

The Blue Wagon Alumni Newsletter – July 2012

Inside This Issue Amuse Bouche & Announcements DREAM Teens Plan Road Trip to Tour Colleges High Adventure 2012 – to our Nation’s Capital Alumni host BBQ for High Adventurers in D.C. Annual DREAM Board Governance Retreat DREAM Office Announces Staff Hiring for 2013 DREAM Doppelgängers

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AMUSE BOUCHE

By Adam Goldfarb, Alumni Council President Fellow DREAMers, It's sweaty outside this summer. Safe in my Seattle cocoon shaded by clouds, I still vividly remember the hours I spent running around with mentees at Camp or jaunting through Six Flags, fretting about hydration. I cannot emphasize this enough, for those of you enduring the heat wave: stay hydrated! The DREAM Alumni Council implores you.

The Alumni Council also implores you, if you haven't already, to keep the water flowin' during all of DREAM's summer activities by clicking here! Think of rowing on the lake, Frisbee golf, and cooking up delicious eats for the young folks, and think about giving. We'd really appreciate it, and so would the mentees.

For now, stay cool and stay DREAMin', Adam Goldfarb

ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Congratulations to Elm Street DREAM mentor Hillary Laggis on being one of twenty individuals in Mikeyy and Amanda explore Castleton State the country to win the $10,000 Pearson Prize for College after speaking with admissions reps.

Higher Education, awarded for demonstrated leadership in community service. We're so lucky to have such selfless, inventive and dedicated DREAMers among us. Read more at http://goo.gl/3pNwe. 2. The Boston DREAM office gave a hearty send off to the first team of Teen DREAMers from Boston to go sailing with Time of Wonder, an organization focused on leading summer sailing adventures for underprivileged youth from Main, Vermont, and Boston. A huge thank you to John and Kelly for making this happen! Read more about Time of Wonder at http://goo.gl/cGmHh. 3. Tufts University mentor Shinny Vang has a great blog going about her adventures as one of DREAM’s Summer Interns this summer. Check it out at http://blog.collegepossible.org/my-internship-with-the-dreamprogram.

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Have an old cell phone or laptop lying around that you don’t use? If so, please consider donating it to the DREAM Office Wish List below. Please contact mloner@dreamprogram.org if you’d like to donate any of these items.

• Both the Boston DREAM and Vermont DREAM offices could use 2 or 3 good used cell phones. If anyone is upgrading their phone and would like to donate their old one to us we would be grateful!

• Similarly, Vermont DREAM is looking for used laptops. We know this is a bigger ticket item, but if you or possibly your company are upgrading to a new laptop and have a good used one you could donate that would be awesome!

• The Boston office is in need of a three-drawer file cabinet.

An Update on the DREAM College Road Trip of Summer 2012

By Alicia Jacobs, UVM’10 and Summer Teen Coordinator

Planning for the DREAM 2012 College Road Trip is almost done, as our intrepid scholars get ready to depart on August 2! We’ve come a long way since the last Blue Wagon. Six girls, seven days, and nine colleges (that they picked)-- this college trip was not planned by your mom and dad, that’s for sure.

The girls have been super involved with the whole process. From raising money with a bi-state bottle drive, to researching and choosing the colleges and adventures they are most excited for, they have definitely risen to the challenge. Hats off to our awesome crew: Halima Mohamed (Elm), Brianna Croteau (Franklin Square), Anna Davis (Highgate), Mona Abdelghani and Keziah Jackson (Northwoods/Hollow Drive) and Taylor Galgay (Windsor).

We’ve got most of the details down, but we would love DREAM Alumni visitors! Alumni are more than welcome to join us for a college tour, meal, beach time, Boston touring time, or even just to say a quick hello. It would especially mean a lot to the girls to see mentors from their old programs. One of the most exciting parts of this trip has been talking with the teens and realizing that some of them have been involved with DREAM for almost ten years! It’s a great reminder of why DREAM is so amazing.

If you’re totally jazzed to meet up with the trip, please give me a call at (802)279-5799, or e-mail me at alicia@dreamprogram.org. If you live in Boston or southern Maine, and have any ideas on discounted food or campsites, please also send them my way. We will be in New Hampshire on August 2, Boston from August 3 August 6, and southern Maine (Portland to York) from the 7th to the 9th.

High Adventure 2012 – to our Nation’s Capital!

By Wei Zhou, Dartmouth ‘12 This July, five awesome Dartmouth mentors and nine amazing mentees departed from the lush Upper Valley for two weeks in search of new experiences and broadened horizons. Led by Katherine “K-Peck” Peck, Elizabeth “Liz” Haag, Lindsay “LP” Newton, Deep “DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP” Shah, and Wei “Just Wei” Zhou, the mentees from Windsor, Northwoods and Hollow Drive boarded the southbound Amtrak headed toward our nation’s capital. Backpacks stuffed with clothes and camping gear, the baggage was heavy but hearts were light. The kids quickly befriended the train conductor and the 14-hour trip passed in minutes.

The first day consisted of a leisurely stroll around the National Mall to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. Mentees and Mentors alike were captivated by the sights, sounds, and really large stuffed animals. Finding the stuffed animals to be too quiet and inanimate for their tastes, the group decided to head to the National Zoo! Though watching things was fun, the kids wanted to get a little more hands on. Thanks to our fine Alumni connections in Washington D.C., the group was able to go bowling at the White House! The bowling was as fun as the setting was quaint. Images of former presidents tossing bowling balls adorned the 2-lane alley. Beyond the presidential treatment, the group also got the “senatorial” treatment when they got to photograph with Senator Leahy in front of the capitol. Fun Fact: he has been in at least 4 Batman movies (hint: he reminds the Joker of his father…).

Setting their sights on loftier goals, the group next visited George Washington University for a Q&A session and tour of campus. The mentors were just as interested in the GW campus as the mentees, particularly in the Froyo options in the vicinity! Having had their fill of physical activity, the group attended an interactive play at the Kennedy Center for the Arts: Shear Madness. The actors were brilliant and the improvisation was spot on, citing modern pop phenomena like “YOLO” and “Carly Rae Jepsen!”

This writer is far too old for those things, but the kids laughed!

Leaving DC, the group went to Water Country USA and Busch Gardens for 2 fun-filled days of water slides and roller coasters.

Mentors and mentees both escaped their comfort zones for a ride on the wild slide! Following their escapade in VA, the group returned to DC where they met up with recent Alumni for a trip to the Crime Museum, DC Chinatown, and the DC United game against Montreal!

Canada, predictably, lost.

Though the trip was quite enjoyable there were definitely challenges along the way. The group packed light, but camping gear is naturally clunky. The mentees showed great maturity in helping each other and the mentors with the load. Heat and humidity constantly also plagued the hardy group, but Mother Nature played her final card when she decided to send 60 mph winds and pouring rain at the group’s campsite in Virginia. The group evacuated to the cars and a lone brave Asian mentor cleaned the campsite, risking life and limb. (He is fine, in case you are concerned dear reader.)

We hope you enjoyed reading about our trip as much as we enjoyed the actual trip! A big thanks goes out to Deep Shah, honorary DREAM mentor, for making the High Adventure trip possible. However, the person who deserves the most gratitude and credit for the trip has to be Katherine Peck. Without her tireless contributions and fundraising efforts, Dartmouth DREAM would not have been able to have this opportunity.

Thank you Katherine for all of your work, and know that no one will forget how much you’ve helped with the program and its continuity.

Alumni Host BBQ for High Adventurers in D.C.

By Dylan Nelson & Kristin Burdge

Local DC area Alumni got far more than we bargained for after pooling resources to not only hook up this year's Northwoods/Hollow Drive High Adventurers with discounted activities and guided White House and Capitol tours, but to also host a kickoff BBQ of sorts. Several excited DREAM Alumni offered guided Capitol tours (which are technically banned because Congressional staff were making up too many stories) and another staff alumnus not only set up a tour of the White House, but hosted a bowling session in the president's residence! Mentees and mentors crashed on Alumni floors and couches, and one alum even got to return to temporary mentor-dom when the group ended up short a chaperone at the last second.

The most amazing part of "hosting" as an Alumni network, however, was sharing in a solid round of Roses and Thorns as the BBQ evening ended. Hearing fresh, young voices reflect on our city was inspiring. Realizing the ridiculousness of our day-to-day work woes in the context of all their potential and wonder was ironic and hilarious, and the updates from mentees reunited with former mentors were priceless.

We highly encourage other mini-Alumni gatherings to pool resources and begin urging teen DREAMers and their eager and idealistic mentors to Adventure Highly in their general direction!

Recap: The Board’s Annual Retreat

By Kristin Burdge, Vice Chair of the Board, Windsor/Amory Square ‘04 Each summer the members of DREAM's Board of Directors gather for an annual retreat to think long-term about DREAM’s vision, project plans for the next year, and reflect on our own work and how we operate. It is a truly inspirational weekend overnight at Camp, filled with dreaming big and exploring Camp's adventure opportunities, with a fresh dip in the pond and an appreciation of the property's development over the previous year. At this year's retreat two weeks ago mid-July, we were able to continue to lay some of the foundational steps towards incorporating our newest Board position: the Alumni Organization's Governing Bodies Initiative Head, AJ Legaye. With this closer integration of our leadership bodies, we look forward to the upcoming years when staff, the Alumni Council and the members of the Board will all be able to gather and DREAM big together, while working in parallel to project action steps for the next year.

The Board – working hard at Camp.

The Board uses retreat time annually to refocus on our three central purposes: fiscal oversight, policy governance, and stakeholder representation. Additionally, sessions on the pending National Governance Model and the 5-year Strategic Plan (both of which will be shared broadly in the next month or two), have laid the groundwork for DREAM to continue expanding sustainably and responsibly. With legal advice from our generous and knowledgeable pro-bono counsel, current and prospective board members considered the benefits and costs of remaining a single incorporated nonprofit, or becoming multiple independent “franchise” corporations as we continue to expand. After teasing out the finer aspects of which operational tasks should be coordinated locally vs. nationally, we acted out a live action mock accreditation process of a new regional franchise. Don't worry, both Vermont and Boston offices remain mock accredited, and are, in all seriousness, operating better than can be expected. The amount DREAM continues to do with one of the most pared down budgets we have ever seen continues to astound us!

Amongst other things, our Board composition session highlighted our need to keep our policy governance capacity growing. We are actively recruiting, seeking a membership diverse in level of experience, field, sex, gender, and race/ethnicity, as well as membership from our stakeholder groups: youth, parents, funders/donors, etc. If you may be interested or have a great recommendation to serve on the Vermont or Boston boards, please contact us! We also look forward to the organization putting to better use the wide pool of interests and professional skills growing in our Alumni body, a fact highlighted by the many components of our 5-

The Board – less hard at work…

year Strategic Plan. Hopefully this will jump-start you thinking of how you can help support DREAM's growth, beyond the incredible

financial means you Alumni already share.

The work of the weekend enables us to set priorities that not only drive budgeting for the next fiscal year (beginning in September), but also direct the Board's and the staff's actions over the course of the next year. Look for more updates about those priorities in the upcoming September or October issues of The Blue Wagon, as they will get solidified in the first Board meeting of the year. And in the long term? Board members dream of Local Programs abroad, launching a DC and/or Philadelphia office in the near future, mentee Alumni working in the DREAM office and launching their own DREAM programs, and 100% mentee Alumni participation as mentors in their respective colleges. And that's how we DREAM. How about you all? We'd love to hear from you.

DREAM Office Announces Staffing for 2013

By Mike Loner, Executive Director

Vermont DREAM is really excited to announce our AmeriCorps VISTA members for 2012-2013. We will have three VISTA members joining us for the year. Returning to DREAM for a second year is Britt Wedenoja. Britt currently serves with DREAM as our Southern Vermont member and over the past year has supported the Bennington College/Willowbrook and Green Mountain College/Poultney DREAM Programs. She has had an outstanding year and we are so excited that she will return for a second year with DREAM in which she will move to the Burlington office and work with the UVM, Saint Michael's and Champlain College DREAM Programs. Britt is a 2011 University of Michigan graduate.

Replacing Britt in our Southern Vermont office will be Ali Siegel. Ali is a 2012 Middlebury College graduate and a DREAM Alumni member. Ali mentored for the Middlebury/Pine Meadow DREAM program for four years. During her time with DREAM at Middlebury College, Ali was a co-chair for the program, helped lead an expansion of the program to include a new community, and helped plan Middlebury's first overnight culminating trip to Sturbridge Village, NH. We are so excited that Ali has chosen to work with DREAM over the next year.

Last, but certainly not least, Kate Piniewski will be joining DREAM as a full-time VISTA member and will be working our of White River Junction. In fact, Kate will be living and working from Northwoods and supporting the three Dartmouth DREAM Programs; Northwoods, Hollow Drive, and Windsor/Union Square. This is a brand new position for DREAM and we are really fortunate that Kate has stepped up to the challenge. Kate is a former DREAM mentor at UVM and she has spent two summers with DREAM as a Community Intern.

Finally, in addition to our three VISTA positions, it is with tremendous excitement that I also get to announce that our hiring team has decided to offer Ms. Sarah Caliendo the full-time position of Program Director - Direct Support. Over Sarah's last two years serving as an Americorps State and VISTA member, Sarah has shown amazing dedication, growth and the most tremendous DREAM Vibe.

Sarah has also already ACCEPTED the position and we will be working out her start date with Vermont Youth Tomorrow (VYT) per the end of her VYT VISTA term. Please send our HAPPY colleague a note of congratulations. Welcome to the team (again) Sarah.

Sarah (and Elmo) are ecstatic about her new position as Program Director.