A few months and many field trips later, Tomasz has no regrets. He and his mentee have explored Salem, MA, visited each other’s schools, gone to the beach, and played Frisbee together, among other fun activities. “I’ve had an absolutely fantastic experience!” exclaims Tomasz. “At first, I thought our relationship would be really academic – that it would be more of a ‘teaching-learning’ kind of thing – but actually, it is more like having a friend who just happens to be 12 years younger than you are.”

Tomasz, who is leaning towards a concentration in Molecular and Cellular Biology, also works in a lab and is a member of the Harvard College Alliance for Africa. But as enriching as his other commitments are, Thomasz loves SBBS for the “personal and tangible effects” of watching his mentee “grow up,” and because he has been able to forge a much stronger relationship than he could ever have anticipated.

South Boston Big Siblings is a one-to-one mentoring program that matches volunteers with children ages 6-13. For information, please contact Program Director Liz Ballaconis at elizabeth.balaconis@gmail.com.

As a Senior Counselor with the Summer Urban Program, you have the chance to work with a group of 10 children, teaching and mentoring them as you explore the city together. All Senior Counselors receive free housing and a stipend of at least $3400.

Please come learn more at our info sessions this week and next:

Email sup@pbha.org with questions.

Supports Mentoring Program Group Officer; Cambridge and Mentoring programs

The PBHA Directors of Programs (four in all) support student PBHA program directors. They ensure that program run effectively, responsibly, and safely. They work in conjunction with program directors to plan for the semester, do site visits, and write evaluations of the program. Finally, they provide institutional memory as program directors change each year. They report directly to PBHA’s Deputy Director.

Born and raised in Cambridge, Robert has always loved his City (everyone also seems to know him). Along the road he studied at Boston State University and Harvard University to obtain a deeper, more technical understanding for his field of interest.  For the last 15 years he has had the fortune to have parked at PBHA. Robert loves to facilitate workshops on mentoring, youth development, classroom management and has a strong passion for the performing arts.

Programs Supported by Robert: Cambridge Afterschool Program (CASP), Cambridge One to One, Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program (CYEP), CHANCE, David Walker Scholars Program, EnviroEd, Environmental Action Committee, HARMONY, HARMONY Summer, Harvard Youth Leadership Institute (HYLI), LEADERS!, Spanish Acquisition Beginning in Elementary School (SABES), Summer Programs, Summer Science, Wilderness 1-2-1, Youth Recreation

RYI, one of PBHA’s 12 SUP (Summer Urban Program) camps, is based in the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury, serving its predominantly African American and Latino community. With a staff of 8 Senior Counselors and 8 Junior Counselors, RYI serves 75 youth ages six to 13. Matthews, who is originally from “a lot of places – South Africa, Botswana, the UK, and Santa Fe” was a first-year student last year looking for something meaningful to do over the summer. He first heard about SUP from Omobolaji Ogunsola (Harvard ’10) and VaLonda Harris (Harvard ’09) who have worked with PBHA’s summer programs for two summers. After applying to the program, Matthews soon found himself at an intensive two-week training boot camp, meeting his campers’ parents, and planning academic enrichment curriculum.

RYI at PBHA's Midsummber Celebration

Matthews admits that teaching a classroom of seven campers was a challenging experience unlike any he’d ever had. Although training was not easy, he says that it was “more than sitting around – it was interactive and hands on – and I was thinking to myself, I get paid for this.” Also, figuring out the interests of his classroom of seven children was tough, but strong communication with parents and support from the more seasoned Senior Counselors in his program helped Matthews to build strong relationships with his students. “It was an extraordinary experience.”

Matthews found his time with RYI personally very meaningful. By working with SUP, Matthews felt that “this was a summer job where you actually had to stand for something, and that you would make a significant change, no matter how small it is.” He adds that “sometimes change is hard to see, but that fact that you’re trying, it gives a lot of hope; the fact that a lot of people come to teach children is uplifting.”

As an African and African American Studies concentrator, Matthews taught a unit on the slave trade in his SUP classroom. To Matthews’s surprise, most of the campers were unfamiliar with the topic but engaged with the topic and asked a lot of question. All except Maya, of course, until one camper asked specifically about the relations between Africans and African Americans. Maya jumped out and gave a personal account of her aunt and her involvement in with the Pan-African movement in the 1990s. Matthews was surprised by her enthusiasm. For the rest of the unit, Matthews borrowed a children’s book from the PBHA library about black history. From then on, Maya was captivated with the lessons and became a leader in the camp, even encouraging others to participate. At the end of the summer, Matthews had finally learned to “cultivate her leadership skills” and finally “saw Maya as the leader that he knew she was.”

Want to have a rewarding summer experience like Matthews did?

DO SUP!

As a Senior Counselor with SUP, you have the chance to work with a group of 10 children, teaching and mentoring them as you explore the city together. All Senior Counselors receive free housing and a stipend of at least $3400.

To learn more, come to the information sessions:

Wednesday, February 4th from 7-8pm at PBHA

Thursday, February 5th from 7-8pm at the IOP

Monday, February 9th from 7-8pm at PBHA

Email sup@pbha.org with questions.

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Click on the link below to read the story: 

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/01/21/brush_with_destitution_fuels_a_desire_to_succeed/