ScienceMentors 1 to 1 - 2010 KickOff
Host: Rider University*
(a great environment for a top notch education)

6:00 pm - Food, glorious Food - Buffett - Calico Restaurant - Princeton, NJ
7:00 pm - Introduction
7:15 Presentation of 2010 mentors/mentees
7:30 Mayhem Poets www.mayhempoets.com
Back by popular demand - Transformational Power House Young Men
8:15 - Send Off for our 2010 mentees

8:30 Homeward Bound

To all who have kept the doors to their hearts open to us over the years….Thank you…
Special shout outs to Rush Holt, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Lisa Jackson and Eleanor Horne.
Special Thanks to our hostess: Joyce Tyler

Rider University Address: 2083 Lawrenceville Rd (Route 206) Lawrence, NJ 08648
Questions: Contact Maureen J. Quinn of ScienceMentors - njenquinn@aol.com

Mentees enjoyed serving Thanksgiving dinner to residents at Luther Towers in Trenton NJ

Franklin Institute

Dearest's first train ride - Summer 2009

Fun at Franklin Institute - Summer 2009

Monday - Dec. 28th - Franklin Institute.
All are welcome. 8:30 am at Trenton Train Station…Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas

We’ll meet to outline our strategy for the year in the community room of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, NJ www.pclawrenceville.org. We’ll have food and this is an EXTREMELY important gathering for all of us. 6 pm - 8 pm

We are really proud of Justin, DayQuan, Jackie, Liliana, Deanna, Archie, Ismael and Aaron for spending their day supporting the leaders in NJ who want to improve graduation rates. TCHS will benefit from their work.

The 2009 Science Mentors 1 to 1 fair was a huge success, thanks to everyone who came out!

larger version of the poster click: here

On March 18th ScienceMentors 1 to 1 held a meeting at St Ann’s Church in Lawrence.

An emotional inaugural for science effort

Monday, January 12, 2009

LAWRENCE — A night of powerful performances and heartfelt alumni testimonies marked the inauguration of a science mentoring program for Trenton youths at Rider University.

Science Mentors 1 to 1 matches Trenton High School students with an adult mentor. The mentor and mentee spend two hours a week together conducting research, while the student prepares a lesson for an elementary school class, enters into science fairs and looks for summer research programs.

The program began 16 years ago as MentorPower, but was cut from the state budget a year and a half ago and has since been run on a volunteer basis by Director Mau reen Quinn. This year, the program is funded under the umbrella of the Venkat foundation.

Thursday night’s event served as both the kick-off of the new program and a fundraiser.

Several alumni of the program spoke about their experiences, and the Mayhem Poets, a poetry group that travels around the country, performed. Ronald Jones, a former mentee and now a mentor, also read an original poem.

Katie Barnett, a mentor who works in the Department of Environmental Protection, said Thursday night’s program was the start of a renewal.

“We’re working on getting it revitalized,” she said.

Barnett has been a mentor for several years and still keeps in touch with many of her mentees.

“It ends up being more than just a science project. We really work intensely with each of the kids, she said. You really do end up connecting.”

Tina Drew, 25, joined the program as a freshman at Trenton High School. Her mentors guided her to a summer program at Princeton University and helped her when applying to college.

“It really helped me as a resource when I was applying to schools,” she said.

Now, Drew works for a technology company while pursuing a master’s in electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and says it was her involvement in the mentoring program that steered her towards her career.

Jones, a 2005 graduate of The College of New Jersey, also joined as a Trenton High School student in 1997.

“I had a really great experience with the program, he said. It gave me the boost that I needed academically, it helped me get to college.”…

link

The inaugration event was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who attended and to the Mayhem Poets for an amazing performace.

Mayhem Poets
Three men whose poetry and rap challenges, evokes and inspires
Winners of the 2007 Microsoft Small Business Challenge

A Poem by Ronald Jones - Words Count

Words count
A flash back in 3rd grade
The mouth…on my teacher made the words say
“You’re the class of 2000, you can be anything”
Man, what an the impact those words made

Words Count
Words count like I’ve been waiting for hours
At the hospital, pacing, haven’t taken a shower
The night seems long there will be no day
If the doctor can’t tell me that “She’ll be ok”

Words Count
Why is the word hate so strong?
Why does understanding love take so long?
So we take long to say “I love you”
And we are quick to say “I hate you”
And we procrastinate when we need to say
“I appreciate you”

Words Count
You see
Once upon a place
There lived a boy in a space
The space was in a place
Where you wouldn’t show your face
The boy had what it took
And today has what is takes
But at the time there were things
That the boy had to face
At home his world was small
At school he was in space
Where he dreamed quite large
But at home he’s awake
So how’s the boy to know
What was real and what was fake?
You enrolled as a mentor
He meets you on some day
You never had time for this
This could be some mistake
See I told you once before
The boy has what it takes
So what does it take to make you know
Your words will be embraced?
You can change the atmosphere
You’ll change that boy’s home to space

Words Count
Words count like you’ve had a long day
The phone rings and rings it’s been at it all day
You look at the phone
You pick up the phone
The phone is driving you crazy
You’re ready to scream
You listen in close
And hear “I love you baby”

Words Count
Words count like I’m getting on one knee

Words Count
Words count like a witness on the scene

Words Count
Words count like a description of a scene
To a man who is blind
To make his vision keen

Words Count
Words count like a command to a soldier
With his family on a photo
And plans to be closer
The photo in his pocket
And his hand on the holster

Words count
A flash back in 3rd grade
I was wearing the shirt I wore on Thursdays
I’m thinking why am I in the class in the first place
I’m thinking – my birthplace is the worst place
The mouth…on my teacher made the words say
“You’re the class of 2000, you can be anything”
Man, what an the impact those words made
At the time I was hesitant when the teacher
Told us that one of us can be President
At the time I was thinking “No We Can’t”
But never said it loud
So now I’m saying “Yes We Can”
And I can say it proud.