Bill Brueck, President 04-05, Greater Rochester Rotary STRIVE Mentoring August 31, 2005 Lake Elmo Bill Brueck, President 04-05, Greater Rochester Rotary Rotary 5960 STRIVE coordinator, Rotary 5960 Webmaster

STRIVE Started in Rochester Rotary II in 1999 Modeled after the STRIVE program of Waseca Rotary

Copyright 2000, Search Institute, Minneapolis Why STRIVE? “Through extensive research, Search Institute has identified the following 40 building blocks of healthy development that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.” Copyright 2000, Search Institute, Minneapolis

Why STRIVE? # 3: Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults. # 7: Young person perceives that adults in the community value youth. # 21: Young person is motivated to do well in school. # 30: Young person accepts and takes personal responsibility. Copyright 2000, Search Institute, Minneapolis

Program Foci Mentor-Student relationship development Academic improvement (scholarship carrot) Recognition: Spring banquet

Challenges Effective School – Rotary partnership Recruitment of students Recruitment of mentors Funding for scholarships and banquet Continuity of project management from season to season

Challenges Recruitment of mentors We quickly learned to recruit outside of Rotary: spouses, business associates, parents, grown children. Approximately 65% of our mentors are Rotarians. This is very fertile ground for Rotary recruitment!

The Good News - There are star turn-around stories each year. Many Rotarians have warm and fuzzy experiences with their students. The banquet provides, in many cases, the first time for a family to celebrate their child’s success. There are many happy faces to feel good about.

Rotarian: “What did we do that contributed to your success this year?” Strive Student: “My parents knew I was a loser, my counselors knew I was a loser, my teachers knew I was a loser…but you didn’t.”

The Rest of the Story: Most mentors will not have that sense of “this worked” and may well lose touch with their student.

The STRIVE Student Who “Didn’t Work Out” My Story: The STRIVE Student Who “Didn’t Work Out”

Tyler O’Neill STRIVE Student 2000-2001