eMentoring

On Thursday May 5^th, the eMentoring team held a Mentor Curriculum Training feedback session at the Xwi7xwa Library. Ten representatives from various areas such as the Urban Native Youth Association, UBC Institute of Aboriginal Health, School District 36 (Surrey), and First Nations House of Learning had the opportunity to attend and provide feedback on the training curriculum that will be used to prepare participants in their upcoming roles as mentors in the eMentoring program.  Participants engaged in thoughtful and in-depth discussions and several key themes were addressed. A sample of the topics discussed included: school culture, mentee selection, mentor training and support, cultural competence, modes of communication and best practices in mentoring.

Overall, this was a great session that brought together participants with expertise in different areas relevant to Aboriginal education. Special thanks to everyone who attended!

Here’s a sample of logo submissions that were completed by high school students from Boston Bar, BC! Let us know what you think!

On Thursday April 14^th, 2011 two members of the eMentoring team went to the Boston Bar Elementary Secondary School Career Fair.  We met 35 students, their teachers, their Principle, and some parents.  The students got to meet people from Service Canada, CP Rail, the Nicola valley Institute of Technology, the Taxation Office, and of course, the eMentoring reps!

We asked all of the students if they were thinking about going to University and becoming a health professional.  The majority were interested in going to University, with many stating an interest in Nursing, Social Work, and Counseling Psychology.  Next up, we did two activities.

For the first activity, we asked the students, “If you could ask these health professionals anything, what would you ask?”

Here is a sample of some of the questions the Dentist received:

–          How many years does it take to become a certified Dentist?

–          Have you had someone mad at you before?

–          What is it like using the drills?

–          Have you ever got sick of breath?

Some of the questions a Doctor received were:

–          Do you ever get scared from doing your job?

–          What specialties can you become, e.g. Surgeon, etc.?

–          What’s the weirdest injury you have dealt with?

–          How do you handle the smell of blood?

–          Is it hard to be a Doctor?

–          How many hours does it take out of your day?

During the activities students asked questions and wrote down their email addresses so we could keep them posted on what’s going on with eMentoring.  All and all, it was an excellent day. Thanks for having us Boston Bar- it was a pleasure to meet you!

eMentoringBC is an online program that connects Aboriginal youth with mentors that are 100% dedicated to helping you figure out what career you want and how to get there! As this is a new program, we are just getting ready to launch in Sept 2011. In the meantime, there are many exciting opportunities for you to be aware of and possibly get involved. The first is that WE NEED A LOGO, and are having a logo contest! As this program is for Aboriginal youth, we’d love to have our logo designed by the people this program is serving.

Up for grabs is a brand, new iPod Nano!

Please feel free to get the word out about this logo contest to any Aboriginal high school students you know.

MAIL ENTRIES by Apr 15, 2011 TO:

Katherine Wisener
855 West 10th Ave.
Vancouver, BC  V5Z 1L7
We look forward to seeing your submissions!

“If you could have dinner with any one person, past or present, who would it be and why?”

We asked youth to answer this question at the Sto:Lo Career Fair, February 4th, 2011. Check out what they said!

An article with images of the Career Fair can be found here!

The eMentoring forum was held on December 6th, 2010, and brought together First Nations community partners, First Nations organizations, and Institutional partners to discuss the eMentoring project. We hired Avril, a graphic facilitator to visually represent our discussions. Click on the image below to see the end result!

Welcome to the eMentoring Project!

The aim of this project is to encourage Aboriginal students to first stay in school and hopefully choose a career in health.  We need more Aboriginal doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, social workers and more.  But first, our Aboriginal students need to graduate high school, with a belief that they can and will go on to university. 

Using a proven, online mentoring program developed in New York City, this project will be transforming icouldbe.org to suit the needs of Aboriginal youth in BC.  As we are also researchers, we want to learn from this project every step of the way.  We will be documenting the process of setting up this program as well as the impact it has on youth.

Keep visiting for more updates!