Chick Fil A hosts holiday party!

Everyone wants a party and what better way to party than with the Chick Fil A cow and great food! Girls were excited to listen and learn from Hal Queen, Owner of Chick Fil A Albemarle Road location. We were able to learn what qualities are essential for employees especially for those seeking employment with Chick Fil A.

Qualities of a successful leader are:  a servant heart, a willingness to help and assist others. In addition, they must have a desire to do the right thing. Hal Queen wanted our girls to know that people enjoy and like to work with those who are willing to be apart of a team.

Our girls were inspired and hope to show more servant leadership qualities throughout the year to improve their relationships with friends, teachers and parents.

 

 

 

All rise! Court is in session!

The Honorable Rickye McKoy Mitchell returned to speak with our group and she was as compelling as ever as she spoke with the students about her position as a District Court Judge in Mecklenburg County, the 26th Judical District, since 1998.


The Honorable Rickye McKoy Mitchell speaking with students!

Judge McKoy Mitchell was adamant about the importance of education and hard work. She wanted the students to understand that life circumstances does not define the rest of your life and that we all have choices to make.

Judge McKoy Mitchell shared her own story. She shared how she was raised by a single parent in eastern Carolina. The odds were against her, but she knew there was something bigger for her to do. So she finished high school, went on to college including law school at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and became a judge in 1998.

She currently presides primarily in juvenile court, hearing trials and motions involving custodial cases.

Judge McKoy Mitchell asked students to choose the power of words: to dream, to believe and to achieve.

Dream - you can do anything, big possibilities!
Believe - you have to know you can do it!
Achieve - work with your resources!



High School is just a year or two away!

High School can be intimidating and frightening. The school size will almost double. Peers who have gone to school with you for several years maybe in another high school zone. And those who never went to school with you before may suddently end up at the same school with you.

How will I make it in this new environment? Who can I trust? Will they like me?  How will I keep my grades up? Will I remember to do everything right? Will someone help me? What should I do if I get in trouble?

These are some of the questions that our students raised during our recent visit with Independence High School Counselor Ashley McKinley.

McKinley took the time to encourage and educate the students on what to expect in high school. She had each student calculate their GPA. Most were surprised at their ability to calculate their GPA and many more were disappointed. Students learned their current status and were encouraged to move forward with their grades.

McKinley also took the time to share how the demands of high school are real, but can be exetremely fruitful if you study hard, focus on the positive and remain faithful to maintaining good grades. McKinley noted that it's easier to maintain good grades than to fall behind and have to improve grades.

Students left encouraged and enthusiatic about the prospect of going to high school in just a few years.

Independence High School Charlotte, NC

Our first College Tour - University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC)

UNCC is the fourth largest UNC campus and we had a blast walking all over learning about the many opportunities available.

UNCC Belk Tower

The girls and their families met early and our tour began at Cato Hall thanks to our wonderful graduate student Kristen Reynolds.

First stop the Belk Tower where students of UNCC often gather to advocate and support human rights issues. You can find activists mingling and holding vigil to honor human life at this site.

J. Murrey Atkins Library

From the Belk Tower we visited the J. Murrey Atkins Library. The girls were amazed at the number of resources in the library:  the books, the research rooms, the computers and the quiet spaces.

Some of the girls are not avid readers therefore Reynolds made a profound statement, "you don't have to like it but you have to do it if you want to succeed in college."


After taking the grand tour of the library we made our way to the student union. The student union was bustling and full of people eating and meeting. The girls were amazed at all the amenities and were most excited about the salon and the movie theater. Some made their decision to attend UNCC right then in there.

UNCC Student Union

At the student union we were joined by a college freshman who shared her first year successes and challenges. One of the most intriguing statements made by the freshmen was the need for time management and financial resources to reach goals. The passion to learn is essential for success in college.

After leaving the student union we went to visit the dorms. The girls fell in love with the dorms at Hunt Hall and many of them have already picked out decorations.

What I am most excited about as a result of our visit is that many of the girls have begun the mental process of preparing for college ie working on time management and grades.

Our tour ended at Chick Fil A on Albemarle Road with lunch. Kudos to the owner and staff of this restaurant who provided food and a place for our girls and their families to debrief.

Please enjoy these pictures of our girls on campus at UNCC and at Chick Fil A.

Drug and alcohol abuse in middle school? No way! YES WAY!

Today we learned that many of our girls have been approached to take part in drug and alcohol activities. Yes I was shocked!

Some say that their "friends" bring bottles of pills to school. Other say that when they are out with friends some try to entice them with liquor including vodka.

After a few minutes with Kim Matone Community Organizer for Charlotte Mecklenburg Drug Free Coalition and Marcella Young, a Prevention Specialist with Anuvia we learned that our girls have been exposed to a multitude of situations that are dangerous to their health and deadly to their lives.

The girls were challenged to come up with ways to help their "community" (school) with alcohol and drug abuse. Their ideas are below:

-Education (parents and students) by using assemblies, videos and posters

-Self decisions

-Empowerment (posters)

-Talking with counselors (support)

-Experience (goggles, ABC officers)

-Friends

Remember to encourage your children, friends and family to say no to alcohol and drug abuse!!!

For more information about alcohol and drug abuse prevention please visit the following websites and get involved in prevention.

Anuvia Prevention & Recovery Center is a nonprofit serving Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with alcohol and drug education, prevention, assessment and treatment services. The agency is more than 50 years old and has been known as The Chemical Dependency Center, The Randolph Clinic and the Charlotte Council on Alcoholism. Roughly 20,000 people are impacted by Anuvia's services each year, from children and teens to parents and educators to people with court-related problems and people who have an alcohol or drug dependency
http://www.anuvia.org/index.php

Charlotte Mecklenburg is an active, vibrant, diverse community that promotes collective and individual responsibility for wellness and fosters safe, healthy and substance abuse free lifestyle for children and adults.
http://drugfreecharlotte.org/aboutus.asp

                     

How can a middle school girl stay organized?

As many of you already know, middle school brings on so many demands including school work, homework, music, sports, social activities and for girls a multitude of body changes.  So how do we keep it all together? We call in the professionals!!!!

Catie Eller with Simplicity Organization visited our girls today and gave them a lesson on how to keep it all together.

First Mrs. Eller recommended that the girls stay organized with school work by purchasing a binder and dividers. She also suggested in order to maintain good grades and stay on top of those assignments the girls must be diligent with time management and creating a organizational system that works for them.


Mrs. Eller also recommended that the girls create a timeline of all their daily duties which included everything from getting dressed in the morning to watching television to doing homework to going to bed. After each girl created their list they were tasked with prioritizing the list for 1 less important to 10 most important.

This was hilarious watching our girls prioritize their list of duties. One question:  does looking at Justin Bieber posters on your bedroom wall constitute a priority on your list of duties each day?  For some of our girls this was very important. ;-)

So for more information on Organizing your life or your teens life please check out Simplicity Organizers at http://simplicity-organizers.com/

Simplicity is a professional organizing company, committed to changing homes and lives by creating customized and maintainable organizational systems. Simplicity’s goal is to change our client’s perspective on their possessions and help them to identify what is most important.

The Etiquette Coach arrived and boy did she have a message for our girls!!!

LaShaune Tisdale, Owner of the Academy of Etiquette and Charm was fantastic as she shared about the importance of manners and life skills for the 21st Century.

The girls came into the room with frowns and looking at the ground discouraged by a day of hectic schedules and peer pressure. The outlook was bleak and the girls were not really interested in hearing a pep talk or the importance of manners. But by the time Ms. Tisdale finished encouraging them to change their attitude and their disposition most girls where all smiles when they left our session.

Ms. Tisdale provided the following tips to help the girls be successful with attitude and personal conduct:

1. Sit up straight and cross your legs at ankle or knee

2. Positive attitude and smile

3. Speak in a respectable tone and maintain your composure

4. Use appropriate language without cussing

5. Be a true friend and offer encouragement

6. Participate in your scheduled activities as well as class

7. Know your personal space and personal limit

Thanks to the Academy of Etiquette and Charm!!!
For more information on the Academy of Etiquette and Charm visit
http://etiquetteandcharm.com/#

It's Kick Off Time!

On Thursday, October 3, 2013 we kicked off our new year! We had about 40 guest including parents, mentors, students, community partners and school administrators in attendance. The group was excited and anxious to learn who they would have as a mentor or mentee.

The morning began with introductions and mentor training facilitated by Elizabeth Mitchell, Neighborhood Resources Liaison for the Neighborhood and Business Services division of the City of Charlotte.

Participants discussed the importance of mentoring and learned that mentoring is "a relationship over a prolonged period of time between two or more people where an older, caring, more experienced individual provides help to the younger person as he/she goes through life." as defined by the Connecticut Mentoring Partnership.

Participants also learned that the key to creating effective mentoring relationships lies in the development of trust between two strangers of different ages.

Mentees were able to talk with their peers and learn the importance of having a mentor and how this new relationship can be beneficial to their success in school and beyond.

Many thanks to Chick Fil A Albemarle Road for serving us breakfast.

For more information on the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance visit
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/mayor/MentoringAlliance/Pages/newhome.aspx

The Interview! Family Focus: Teen mentoring program helps girls before high school

The Interview which aired on WSOC TV with Natalie Pasquarella!


Check out link below...

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/lifestyles/family-focus-teen-mentoring-program-helps-girls-hi/nX79z/

Ladies of Distinction interviewed by Natalie Pasquarella with WSOC TV!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of being interviewed by Natalie Pasquarella Anchor/Reporter with WSOC TV in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It was awesome to meet with her. Natalie was so encouraging to the LOD and we can't wait to view the story on today at 5:30 pm. Check out this twitter post from Natalie.

Shooting story on "Ladies of Distinction" - a mentoring group inspiring 8th grade girls 2 reach their full potential: http://t.co/xWXoOI30TK" title="http://twitter.com/NatalieNews/status/340151490511515648/photo/1">twitter.com/NatalieNews/st…
&mdash

; Natalie Pasquarella (@NatalieNews) May">https://twitter.com/NatalieNews/status/340151490511515648">May 30, 2013

More details to follow...

Ladies of Distinction featured on CMS website!

Charlotte Mecklenburg School District featured LOD in a recent article! See the link below.

Williams with girls from LOD Mentoring Program

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/Pages/SpotlightonvolunteersWilliams,McPhailteamuptoempowergirls.aspx