Pine Meadow/Peter Coe DREAM Quarterly Report September - November 2017
Greetings from DREAM! As the summer drew to an end and the children and college students all prepared for class, wonderful DREAM activities began, starting in September and stretching all the way to December. Middlebury College and the Pine Meadow community were brimming with DREAMiness and here is a summary of happenings that occurred during the fall.
Highlights from the quarter include: ● ● ●
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The mentors returned from summer break and were ready to get back into DREAM planning! The co-chairs, Chris Adamo and Tara Santi, made a list of DREAM Fridays for the whole semester, and gave it to the parents of the mentees in the community. The co-chairs also tabled at two activities fairs to recruit new mentors and many students showed interested! Throughout the quarter some new students join and became mentors! Janice Zhang, a new mentor of this year, matched with Kaylee! This was the first match of the semester!
Participants- LOOK ON ROSTER FOR THESE NUMBERS Mentees Mentors Total: 12 Total: 11 Fridays: ●
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For the first Friday of the quarter, the group drove to Lake Dunmore and spent the afternoon swimming in the lake and making s'mores! It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids really enjoyed the s’mores! In October, Middlebury DREAM went apple picking at Happy Valley Orchard, and munched on some apple cider donuts and hot cider! Another Friday, the mentors ventured to the Willowell Farm in Bristol. There, the group picked beets and black beans. Then made some delicious pizzas with ingredients from the farm. At the end of October, the mentors threw a Halloween party for the kids! The kids painted pumpkins, bobbed for apples, ate donuts off a string, colored, and ran around in their costumes.
In November, the mentors took the kids to campus and taught them how to make their own pottery. The kids made some incredible works of art! ● The mentors also had an arts and crafts day on campus where they ironed beads, made origami, decorated cookies, and did some coloring. ●
Special Events for Children and Mentors: ● In October, DREAM staff hosted our annual mentor conference, DREAMstock! We had over 50 mentors in attendance from 7 different programs across the state. The day consisted of multiple trainings on topics including behavior management, cultural competency, healthy sexual development in youth, and a teen panel. Capacity Building and Fundraising: ● We’re in the middle of our annual fundraising drive, where we raise close to ⅓ of our annual operating budget. Camp: ● ●
Camp programming is off at the moment, but we are planning for Winter Adventure Camp in February and March. Camp construction on our lodge, bath house, and more is currently underway.
Teen Accomplishments: ● The Fall Vermont Teen retreat took place on Saturday, November 4 at Champlain College. 19 teens from all across the state, 5 DREAM staff, 5 DREAM mentors, and 6 guest speakers attended. The range of topics covered included career options and identity, as well as college club options and challenges that teens face at school and in their personal lives. It was a very successful event! Alumni: ● The alumni council is rolling out an alumni directory intended to keep alumni connected and able to support the kids and organization. ● Alumni grants are also being reviewed, providing program sites with additional program-related funding. Office: ●
DREAM welcomed 14 new Americorps members (six of which are serving in Vermont) and kicked off the new service year with a retreat. The retreat set vision for the upcoming year and included all members and staff from across our three locations (Boston, Philadelphia, and Vermont).
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The DREAM Office hosted its first site visit with our CNCS Grant Officer Rachel Turner. The visit was very informative and helpful for us and Rachel was pleased with our progress as a new grantee. DREAM Vermont has a “new” office at the Elm Street Community Center in Winooski, Vermont. A few of our current staff members and AmeriCorps members will now call this their new home office.
Thank you for your ongoing support of DREAM. If you would like additional or more detailed information, please contact me by email or by phone. You can always look back at past reports or other programs’ reports by going to: http://dreamprogram.org/mentoring/vermont/local-program-reports.
DREAM big, Katie Nash Program Empowerment Director knash@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979