Mentors of Juniors at KCHS will meet with Mrs. Mastrone to discuss how Shepherds Mentors can support their Student through the college process.
Tag Archives: Tag: Kolbe Cathedral High School
Join a virtual discussion about Business sector jobs. Shepherds Students and Mentors are invited to join in the breakout discussions with several volunteers to discuss their jobs, the education and skills necessary to do the job, along with what an average day looks like in their career.
The pandemic has shined a light on socio-economic disparities in education in Connecticut. Per the CT Mirror, this Spring during the COVID-19 shutdown of schools “In Bridgeport, a full half of the student body didn’t show up regularly for remote schooling during the pandemic compared to 19% who were chronically absent before school buildings closed.” Likewise in New Haven, public school district leadership told the State Education Accountability Committee, that during the first week of remote learning this fall an estimated 65% of the students participated. As a point of comparison, Fairfield Warde and Ludlowe High Schools had participation rates in the 90+% this September per CT Data.
Now more than ever, inner city high school students have more barriers to accessing a quality, college preparatory high school education. For 22 years, Shepherds has been addressing educational disparities in Fairfield and New Haven Counties. Our track record speaks for itself. 95% of our students graduate on time and 90% attend institutes of higher learning after high school, as compared to their public school peers graduation rates of 65-75% and college entrance rates hovering around 60%.
The needs of inner city high school students in Connecticut are greater than ever. With a donation to Shepherds today, you will be investing in a student’s future and helping solve the education opportunity gap right in your own backyard.
Mentoring young people relies upon the power of interpersonal connections with their mentors. Maintaining those connections can be challenging during COVID and creating new ones can prove to be even trickier. Shepherds has met these challenges head-on for our new mentors for the students of the Shepherds Class of 2024.
Shepherds has a robust training program for mentors, students and their families which normally takes place in person. COVID has changed our training program to a hybrid of virtual and in-person training which has required some adjustments. We are happy to report that our new mentors and freshman students have begun making solid personal connections.
Zoom meetings kicked off mentor training with a focus on mentoring expectations and mentoring in safe virtual and in-person environments. Our staff was impressed with how engaged our mentors were during these sessions. Up next were parent and student training sessions followed up with in-person meetings for most and a virtual meet up for one mentor, student and parent.
When mentors, students and parents met for the first time, it became clear that it is easy to be social and get to know another and still stay six feet apart. Shepherds Staff witnessed the beginning of new relationships and being physically distant, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer didn’t change a thing.
For over 20 years, Shepherds has been empowering inner-city Connecticut teens to build a foundation for success by helping close the educational inequality gap in Fairfield and New Haven counties.
Shepherds provides each student the tuition support to attend a college preparatory education, academic and life skills programs, and the positive role model and four-year guidance of a Shepherds Mentor.
Shepherds is repeatedly asked the question, “Who are your students?” We are able to provide the demographics of race, gender, income difficulties, etc., and these are important data points about our students. However, it doesn’t capture who they ARE.
This year, we asked the incoming freshman to write a poem entitled, “I AM.” Shepherds believes these poems are powerful statements about who our students are – what their hopes, goals, dreams and fears are.
To find out how you can be a part of changing a teen’s life, go to www.shepherdsmentors.org or contact Executive Director Dan McAuliffe at info@shepherdsmentors.org.
You can make a difference, right in your own backyard.
The final day of Cougar Camp 2020 was a great celebration of new friendships and new skills learned by our Shepherds Students.
Led by KCHS Teacher Alex Szabo, Shepherds Freshman worked together to make ice cream without using a freezer or ice cream maker. Ziploc bags, ice cubes, salt, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder for those who wanted chocolate ice cream, were all the supplies used to make a celebratory treat! Students learned a great deal of chemistry while making their dessert. They learned about phase changes, melting points, and how salt can make a difference in freezing temperatures. Learning really is FUN-damental!
Shepherds is incredibly grateful to all the people that help make Cougar Camp 2020 a great orientation week for our Class of 2024! We would like to thank Shepherds Liaison Lisa Matson, KCHC Principal Camille Figluizzi, Dean of Student Life Rich Crocco, librarian and school technology coordinator, Shelly Stedman, and math teacher Ed Steadham.
The second day of Cougar Camp was all about teamwork! Students worked together in building tinfoil boats which were used for a science experiment. Making a boat that floats and determining how many pennies it could hold may sound like a simple experiment, but it was full of skills that Shepherds Students will be using in their math and science classes at Kolbe Cathedral High School.
Shepherd students measured, recorded data in their Chromebooks, and created charts as they created multiple boat designs to determine which one held the most pennies. Our students were surprised to learn how many pennies could actually be held in a tinfoil boat! Most students had boats that could hold over 50 pennies before sinking.
Well done Shepherds Students and thank you so much to KCHS teacher Mr. Ed Steadham for leading such a fun STEM activity.
Cougar Camp 2020 kicked-off the school year for Shepherds Class of 2024 at Kolbe Cathedral High School.
KCHS faculty, Shepherds Staff and Students all observed the proper COVID safety procedures of keeping at least 6 feet apart and wearing face coverings. Despite social distancing, students and staff were still quite social!
Getting to know their fellow Shepherds Classmates and participate in fun STEM-oriented classroom activities were top priorities on the first day of Cougar Camp. In ‘the getting to know each other activities,’ led by Shepherds Liaison Lisa Matson, students learned first-hand that physical distancing from each other doesn’t prevent one from being social.
Executive Director Dan McAuliffe stated, “Cougar Camp is a great opportunity for our newest Shepherds Students to make new friends and get comfortable in their new school. I was very happy to see students together, in person and not in a virtual setting. Lisa Matson and the KCHS staff did a great job in accomplishing their objectives.”
Shepherds Students also became familiar with the KCHS technology environment, their Google Chromebooks, funded by our generous Shepherds Donors, and safe usage of their devices. A tour of the school was given by staff to be sure our Shepherds Freshman are comfortable navigating around their new school.
Stay tuned to learn more about the rest of the Cougar Camp 2024 week’s activities!
Shepherds is exceptionally proud to welcome our new students to the Shepherds’ program at Kolbe Cathedral High School. Shepherds Class of 2024 come from a wide variety of family backgrounds, talents, hobbies and academic achievements. This group of young people have two things in common which determined their selection among the over 20 applications received for Shepherds KCHS program this year – their academic potential and their compelling desire to do the work necessary to succeed.
Shepherds is grateful to all of our donors who contributed to make the Class of 2024 financially possible. Of course, Shepherds Mentors are the greatest asset of our program, and we would like to thank the five men and five women who stepped forward to volunteer to mentor a Shepherds Student. The Shepherds Donors’ and Mentors’ generosity have enabled us to give these students the opportunity of taking one the first steps to achieving their dreams!
Our Kolbe Cathedral High School program kicked off this week with an Orientation STEM week called Cougar Camp. Stay tuned to see how the Shepherds/KCHS Class of 2024 began their high school education at this interactive, educational and fun week.
Dear Shepherds Friends:
Here we are in the heart and the heat of the summer… with not much else certain other than the sun will come up tomorrow and it will probably be warm if it’s not raining.
But here’s what we can tell you:
- We had an excellent response to our call for mentors and funding for the incoming Shepherds Class of 2024. We are bringing on a total 14 new students in the fall, 10 at Kolbe Cathedral High School and four at Notre Dame West Haven. This will increase Shepherds total population by four students to 65 students for academic year 2020-21.
- Each of these students and their families were selected on the basis of financial need, academic potential, and most importantly, their demonstrated desire and commitment to be successful. We look forward to them joining the Shepherds family in a few weeks.
- Most gratifying has been the many inquiries we had from prospective mentors and financial sponsors to make this large new Class possible. The willingness to make a four year commitment to change a young person’s life that has been most inspiring to us. One of the many emails from a prospective mentor captured the thought this way:
“.…Education is the ultimate “equalizer”. We as a society must ensure that all people have access to quality education and can participate fully in our society. Recent events have shown that we as a country are still far from where we need to be. I am moved to help by potentially becoming a Shepherd and sponsor and would like to learn more about your program.”
He’s signed up!
- Thanks to the generosity of respondents to the spring appeal, the financial commitments made by a great number of our new mentors, and a substantial donation from one very generous family, we were put over the top for our Shepherds Class of 2024 goal of $60,000.
THANK YOU TO EACH AND ALL OF YOU!
What do we see for the last half of the summer?
- We await information from our partner schools on the details of their re-opening plans.
- Kolbe Cathedral Shepherds Class of 2024 Cougar Camp is planned for August 17 -21.
- Most importantly, our students still need the attention of their mentors this summer. Letting them know you’re thinking of them will be a great boost to their morale.
You can also help us expand our network of friends by sharing one of our Facebook posts with your Facebook friends, sharing a Shepherds LinkedIn posting with your connections, or by forwarding this e-newsletter to friends, colleagues, and relatives. Let’s give more people the opportunity to change a life!
Best wishes for a continued safe, healthy and hopefully enjoyable summer.
Dan McAuliffe
Executive Director
dmcauliffe@shepherdsmentors.org
(203) 367-4273
