One great way to boost your resume is to volunteer and show that you have an investment in your community. One of my good friends took a position with the Bozeman nonprofit, Thrive, that works with parents and children in the community and works closely with the public school district. Knowing that I needed some substance on my resume, I allowed my friend to talk me into volunteering as a mentor for Thrive.
The program is called CAP (Child Advancement Project) and they create matches between students and adults in the community. There is a national statistic that claims that students with the same mentor for more than two year are 3.5 times more likely to graduate from high school, and even more impressive statistics follow that. Some matches are academic, meaning the student needs help with school work, and other matches are purely social.
My mentality entering the mentorship was that I had something to offer a student in Bozeman. Little did I know, I would get just as much, if not more, out of the relationship. I was paired with a 7th grade girl in August of 2012. The first academic year of our relationship we played games, made crafts, learned sign language and performed just about any other task that meant we did not have to fill our entire one-hour-a-week with conversation.
I can proudly and unexpectedly say that I have come to love, understand and support my CAP student. Her little successes have become my successes and I feel a genuine sense of pride when the Thrive coordinator tells me she has A's in all of her classes. I even feel proud when she tells me she won her softball game over the weekend or her school's jazz band won a state competition.
Our weekly hour is now filled with delightful and comfortable conversation. We discuss the future, how tough it is to be a kid, and the expectations that society and peers put on each other. I like to think I have some wisdom and advice to offer, as I suffered from similar expectations and challenges of being a teenager. My goal with my CAP student has been to increase her confidence and self respect. However, I have found that my own confidence and self respect has increased through trying to help her and I have learned a great deal about myself.
The point ... get out there and volunteer. If you are at a loss for where or how, simply visit the Thrive website for mentor applications and information. I can not guarantee that you will fall in love with an incredible student like I have, but I can promise that you will meet a really cool kid, make a difference in your community, and feed your soul and resume.
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