new blood

thoughts on the finaid visit
So this week's visit, we got a lot of new faces on the mentee side, thanks to after school practice for their upcoming PCN. Although I was tired enough to drop dead, I really liked seeing the younger kids rolling out for the visit and I hope that they weren't put off by the rampant midterm tiredness that I think might have been afflicting us all.

improvements
The FAFSA intro was so-so. I didn't really know what they might have trouble with; I wish I'd been able to show them the worksheets and the website earlier, so that they would be able to ask questions during a subsequent visit. Also, about other financial aid, we might want to make a handout that gives some tips on filling out the FAFSA and CSSProfile, along with a list of scholarship resources like fastweb, and general factoids about applying for that kind of thing. I feel like they would have had more questions if they knew more about the process and how important and helpful finaid can be.

plans
Next visit, we're going to have a Spoken Word workshop if Jessa is available - according to them we'd have good attendance again due to the PCN practices. If Jessa can't come, we'll finally get to cover relationship issues.

Other future plans which were brought up at the visit:

• presentation of the boards from the ASB Social Justice Fair
• PYLC
• Retreat (very possibly in conjunction with PYLC, much like LttS)
  

April 11 is going to be the night of their PCN; they don't know where it's going to be held yet as they're still looking for a venue. They mentioned that they could squeeze in a slot for us to have some kind of performance or presentation. However, that is also the first day of Relay for Life - we invited them to come visit us on the 12th for the second day of the relay.

After the visit, we talked in the car about shifting away from social issues into more academic and cultural issues for Spring Quarter. Personally, I'm getting a little tired of the social issues, and also some of the mentees got really excited when I talked about having more culture-oriented visits in the future.

notes
So what is going on with Binibini and some of her fellow Fellows visiting Fremont? Apparently they need to have visitors' passes from the office, which need to be approved two days before. Although, I think it would just be simpler to just call up the school office and arrange something directly with the administration - especially if they're supposed to be observing the classes.

And also, getting lost is fun.



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~Richard