shoplifting at fifteen fighting and
disturbing the peace of seventeen
underage drinking at eighteen and then a
DUI at nineteen and doesn’t this sound
like someone to you who desperately
needed a mentor imagine with me for a
moment being in this young lady shoes in
waking up to something crazy like this
hey yo Brady Bunch it’s time to wake up
she wakes up startled and disoriented
realizing the girl yelling at her
someone she went to high school with it
was in that moment she set eyes on a
bright orange colored jumpsuit she was
wearing and realized she wasn’t in her
bed
she was in jail she was arrested that
night for a DUI now I know many of you
may know someone who’s had one too many
drinks it made the unfortunate decision
to get behind the wheel this actually
isn’t that unusual but the problem was
this wasn’t this young lady’s fourth
first rodeo this would be her fourth
arrest for a five-year span and nine
years ago this young lady was me and I
tell you this craziness with good reason
it’s because there’s hundreds and
thousands of youth out there like me and
when you fast forward to today’s issues
that our youth are faced with like
questioning their safety in schools
cyberbullying or just circumstances that
they can’t control and suddenly our
future is gonna rest on a generation
that we don’t even know how to help so
to really really affect change are we
willing to get from behind our phones
and get in these trenches to help young
people there’s already proof that when
quality mentoring is provided high
school drop
rates fall college completion rates rise
and students are more likely to become
productive members of society
so when you’re sitting there in the
midst of all this chaos wondering what
one of you can do to instill lasting
change and this and future generations
to come there’s power inventory
it was a year prior to that fourth
arrest I was at work one day I was 17
years old and my longtime boss
approached me with that dreaded question
she said just what are your plans for
college I have to be honest with you
guys even as a junior in high school I
was never even planning on it I had
actually just been arrested and
suspended for fighting and I was facing
being expelled because I almost caused
the lunchroom brawl so College wasn’t
even on my radar but in shock
she couldn’t fathom why college wasn’t
on my mind but in my mind I was too
broken already I’d messed up too many
times and even if I knew my parents
she was even more upset when I brought
my report cards in and she realized I
had a 3.2 GPA still you see I wasn’t
stupid per se I wasn’t out to harm
others or be destructive or be
mislabeled this misbehaved juvenile I
just favored making friends and playing
follow the leader over everything I
favored popularity over purpose I
favored fitting in and making a name for
myself over everything I lacked exposure
and I had little respect for the
possibilities that my future could hold
I literally thought that college and a
good job was for those people
not me so that day my boss her name was
Jamie Jamie decided that she would
become my mentor which is great except I
had no idea what a mentor was so when I
try to explain mentoring for you I think
of the time that I had mandatory
community service hours and I knew my
mentor would sign off on my hours
that’s what mentors are for boy was I
wrong she called a friend at the local
humane society and told me to go pick up
poop or the five college applications
that she helped me fill out line by line
because I was clueless or just the fact
that she celebrated every win with me
big or small she was always there
in fact she’s here right now and that’s
what a mentor is they’re just a trusted
friend or an advisor that’s gonna help
guide you through life based on their
experiences and for someone like me that
was everything and that’s what I need
you to understand is I’m not asking you
to go be this beyond selfless person
just to become a mentor Jamie didn’t
give me a magic pill she didn’t pay for
my college tuition
she didn’t take me to Starbucks every
day maybe it was every other day right
she just taught me how to approach
problems differently and then evaluate
each option to solving them you know
what else she did she would set these
high lofty crazy goals for me things
that I’d never even considered and then
she would lay out the tools to help me
achieve them and well practice makes
perfect right so a point came I finally
and she would eventually help turn this
misguided confused follower into a
bright ambitious young lady so when I
was arrested for that fourth time it was
actually totally different because I
already had a relationship with my
mentor so I wasn’t scared of the court
costs I wasn’t scared of the charges I
was facing I was scared to death of the
very person that set those high
expectations for me and actually
believed that I would achieve them I
promise
I paced back and forth in that jail cell
for hours rehearsing my excuse as to why
I disappointed this woman and when the
time came I still got you doubt I think
she said things like I hope you never
allowed to drive that stupid car again
and you’re gonna be lucky if they don’t
kick your butt out of college except it
but in true mentoring fashion we got
past it and she was still there so I
returned to the college I was recently
accepted to I juggled classes and
therapy and mandatory drunk driving and
work all while being on probation the
rest of my college career till the
second I crossed the stage but this time
I was thriving partially because I was
ready to be successful maybe a little
bit because of the consequences I was
facing but it was really because Jamie
was still there after three years in
multiple screw-ups this woman was still
my biggest fan so I finally started to
see what she saw which was just a better
version of myself so despite what
statistics say about someone with
multiple offenses I graduated in 2010
with my bachelor’s degree
I became part of the 55% that are more
likely in to enroll in college when
having a mentor I later went on to live
in six different communities where I
work for multiple nonprofits always
advocating or working with our youth
I’ve actually never done anything else I
then went on to get my master’s degree
in nonprofit management and now I work
for a big nonprofit called ami kids we
serve 5,000 at-risk youth a year helping
them get jobs and therapy education and
mentors while striving to make sure that
they don’t really one deserves a second
chance right you see the choice that my
mentor made not only led me to believe
that I could leave the small community I
was raised in and get a degree or change
the track of my life for the better
it gave me this unshakable desire to do
what my mentor did for me for other
youth so I did over the last nine years
I’ve mentored over a hundred youth
one-on-one with at least 17 that I still
talked to today and here’s five right
here in Pinellas County can I just say I
love love love love being a mentor and
that makes me part of the 90% of mentees
that are then interested in becoming
mentors and based on those findings
I know it’s likely that many of those
seventeen are gonna go on to mentor as
well in fact I know four of them that
are already on that journey and our
mentors right now so you see the choice
that my mentor made which could be your
choice to led to this wild spread of
mentoring her one choice ten years ago
not only impacted my life it’s now
impacted 22 lives for decades to come
as they’re now more likely to go to
graduate
Highschool go to college and become
productive members of society so when
you’re sitting there wondering what one
of you can do to affect change I need
you to go beyond adding your name to
that social media campaign don’t retweet
that hashtag find a young person that’s
already in your life because there are
hundreds and thousands of youth where I
was and become a mentor and watch your
impact ripple through generations to
come thank you [Applause]
disturbing the peace of seventeen
underage drinking at eighteen and then a
DUI at nineteen and doesn’t this sound
like someone to you who desperately
needed a mentor imagine with me for a
moment being in this young lady shoes in
waking up to something crazy like this
hey yo Brady Bunch it’s time to wake up
she wakes up startled and disoriented
realizing the girl yelling at her
someone she went to high school with it
was in that moment she set eyes on a
bright orange colored jumpsuit she was
wearing and realized she wasn’t in her
bed
she was in jail she was arrested that
night for a DUI now I know many of you
may know someone who’s had one too many
drinks it made the unfortunate decision
to get behind the wheel this actually
isn’t that unusual but the problem was
this wasn’t this young lady’s fourth
first rodeo this would be her fourth
arrest for a five-year span and nine
years ago this young lady was me and I
tell you this craziness with good reason
it’s because there’s hundreds and
thousands of youth out there like me and
when you fast forward to today’s issues
that our youth are faced with like
questioning their safety in schools
cyberbullying or just circumstances that
they can’t control and suddenly our
future is gonna rest on a generation
that we don’t even know how to help so
to really really affect change are we
willing to get from behind our phones
and get in these trenches to help young
people there’s already proof that when
quality mentoring is provided high
school drop
rates fall college completion rates rise
and students are more likely to become
productive members of society
so when you’re sitting there in the
midst of all this chaos wondering what
one of you can do to instill lasting
change and this and future generations
to come there’s power inventory
it was a year prior to that fourth
arrest I was at work one day I was 17
years old and my longtime boss
approached me with that dreaded question
she said just what are your plans for
college I have to be honest with you
guys even as a junior in high school I
was never even planning on it I had
actually just been arrested and
suspended for fighting and I was facing
being expelled because I almost caused
the lunchroom brawl so College wasn’t
even on my radar but in shock
she couldn’t fathom why college wasn’t
on my mind but in my mind I was too
broken already I’d messed up too many
times and even if I knew my parents
she was even more upset when I brought
my report cards in and she realized I
had a 3.2 GPA still you see I wasn’t
stupid per se I wasn’t out to harm
others or be destructive or be
mislabeled this misbehaved juvenile I
just favored making friends and playing
follow the leader over everything I
favored popularity over purpose I
favored fitting in and making a name for
myself over everything I lacked exposure
and I had little respect for the
possibilities that my future could hold
I literally thought that college and a
good job was for those people
not me so that day my boss her name was
Jamie Jamie decided that she would
become my mentor which is great except I
had no idea what a mentor was so when I
try to explain mentoring for you I think
of the time that I had mandatory
community service hours and I knew my
mentor would sign off on my hours
that’s what mentors are for boy was I
wrong she called a friend at the local
humane society and told me to go pick up
poop or the five college applications
that she helped me fill out line by line
because I was clueless or just the fact
that she celebrated every win with me
big or small she was always there
in fact she’s here right now and that’s
what a mentor is they’re just a trusted
friend or an advisor that’s gonna help
guide you through life based on their
experiences and for someone like me that
was everything and that’s what I need
you to understand is I’m not asking you
to go be this beyond selfless person
just to become a mentor Jamie didn’t
give me a magic pill she didn’t pay for
my college tuition
she didn’t take me to Starbucks every
day maybe it was every other day right
she just taught me how to approach
problems differently and then evaluate
each option to solving them you know
what else she did she would set these
high lofty crazy goals for me things
that I’d never even considered and then
she would lay out the tools to help me
achieve them and well practice makes
perfect right so a point came I finally
and she would eventually help turn this
misguided confused follower into a
bright ambitious young lady so when I
was arrested for that fourth time it was
actually totally different because I
already had a relationship with my
mentor so I wasn’t scared of the court
costs I wasn’t scared of the charges I
was facing I was scared to death of the
very person that set those high
expectations for me and actually
believed that I would achieve them I
promise
I paced back and forth in that jail cell
for hours rehearsing my excuse as to why
I disappointed this woman and when the
time came I still got you doubt I think
she said things like I hope you never
allowed to drive that stupid car again
and you’re gonna be lucky if they don’t
kick your butt out of college except it
but in true mentoring fashion we got
past it and she was still there so I
returned to the college I was recently
accepted to I juggled classes and
therapy and mandatory drunk driving and
work all while being on probation the
rest of my college career till the
second I crossed the stage but this time
I was thriving partially because I was
ready to be successful maybe a little
bit because of the consequences I was
facing but it was really because Jamie
was still there after three years in
multiple screw-ups this woman was still
my biggest fan so I finally started to
see what she saw which was just a better
version of myself so despite what
statistics say about someone with
multiple offenses I graduated in 2010
with my bachelor’s degree
I became part of the 55% that are more
likely in to enroll in college when
having a mentor I later went on to live
in six different communities where I
work for multiple nonprofits always
advocating or working with our youth
I’ve actually never done anything else I
then went on to get my master’s degree
in nonprofit management and now I work
for a big nonprofit called ami kids we
serve 5,000 at-risk youth a year helping
them get jobs and therapy education and
mentors while striving to make sure that
they don’t really one deserves a second
chance right you see the choice that my
mentor made not only led me to believe
that I could leave the small community I
was raised in and get a degree or change
the track of my life for the better
it gave me this unshakable desire to do
what my mentor did for me for other
youth so I did over the last nine years
I’ve mentored over a hundred youth
one-on-one with at least 17 that I still
talked to today and here’s five right
here in Pinellas County can I just say I
love love love love being a mentor and
that makes me part of the 90% of mentees
that are then interested in becoming
mentors and based on those findings
I know it’s likely that many of those
seventeen are gonna go on to mentor as
well in fact I know four of them that
are already on that journey and our
mentors right now so you see the choice
that my mentor made which could be your
choice to led to this wild spread of
mentoring her one choice ten years ago
not only impacted my life it’s now
impacted 22 lives for decades to come
as they’re now more likely to go to
graduate
Highschool go to college and become
productive members of society so when
you’re sitting there wondering what one
of you can do to affect change I need
you to go beyond adding your name to
that social media campaign don’t retweet
that hashtag find a young person that’s
already in your life because there are
hundreds and thousands of youth where I
was and become a mentor and watch your
impact ripple through generations to
come thank you [Applause]
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