A Day of Goal-Setting & Food!

Written by Hannah Cheyney, Mentoring Program Manager
Pictures by AALEAD Staff and Youth

This past Saturday AALEAD’s mentoring program got together to recognize the impact of mentoring and community service weekend! Youth from across DC, MD & VA convened at Cabin John Regional Park in Maryland to partake in team-building activities, share food from one’s culture, and set goals for the year.

In the mentoring program, mentees set goals around the topics of Social & Emotional Learning. Social-Emotional skills include those such as time management, decision-making, relationship skills, and self-awareness and are so vital for youth because they teach them crucial life skills including the ability to understand themselves, forge relationships with others around them and develop a positive self-image.

We were lucky enough to have Daon McLarin Johnson from MENTOR MD|DC (A national organization that supports Mentoring Programs), join us to lead the Goal Setting Workshop. Mentees learned how to set goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, & Time-Bound) and their mentors supported them in creating them.

AALEAD had a great time seeing some of our mentors and mentees in action and seeing firsthand the mentors’ commitment to our AALEAD Youth.