Mentoring Story (Fort Myers) Michael Velasquez is a 12 year old student matched with Ralph Castillo, a sophomore at Edison

State College. Michael aged out of our After School Reading program and was recommended for enrollment into our CCUSA mentoring program. Ive watched Ralph interact with our Hispanic kids in the After School program and thought he would be a great mentor for Michael. Upon completion of orientation and training, I scheduled a Getting To Know You mentor/mentee and family night to reveal the matches. After dinner and revealing the matches, we had a 100 piece puzzle team competition. Students with parents present were allowed to work with their childs team, to help win a set of mentee/mentor movie tickets. The next day, Mrs. Castillo, the mentors mother, and after school teacher with our reading program said, Michaels mom, who speaks very little English, said she had never put a puzzle together and had never had that much fun with her kids. Little did I know, that was not only the beginning of a great mentor/mentee relationship it was also the beginning of a special bond between two families. Ralph wrote in one of his reports how excited Michael was to visit a Catholic Cathedral and how a rare visit to the movies, coming from a family with limited English was like a dream come true. In late November AFCAAM received free Hockey game tickets. I took advantage of that opportunity for our CCUSA participants. We had 30 attendees and among them were Michael, his entire family and the Castillos. What started as a mentoring relationship between a mentor and mentee, developed into a wonderful relationship benefiting Michaels entire family! Michaels world is expanding and hes becoming a more verbal and confident young man discussing college plans. Veronica Barber, Mentoring Coordinator