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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Model Citizens: From left, Volunteer Debra Martin, Executive Director Marybeth Affleck-Nacey, and Program Manager Gail Wiest-Haywood help introduce students in Campbell and other cities to positive, professional adult role models through The Role Model Program.
Head of the Class
The Role Model Program provides adult mentors for Campbell middle schoolers and gets results
By Genevieve Roja
Once upon a time a man named Ron Gonzales, a Santa Clara County supervisor, visited a classroom. He was introduced to the class as "Mayor."
"You can't be Mayor," they said.
Gonzales asked why not.
"Because you're Hispanic and you can't hold an important job," they said, much to the shock of the adults present, including Gonzales.
The story isn't fiction; it actually happened, about 11 years ago.
Stunned by the children's perception that he couldn't become a prominent figure because of his race, Gonzales piloted an educational program called "Dare to Dream". He called on his friends in various professions to volunteer their services. They would spend time in the classroom, talking with students about what they do for a living and answering their questions.
Since then, Gonzales actually became San Jose's mayor, and despite his duties, he volunteers his time twice a year at middle schools county-wide. The initial program is now called "The Role Model Program," which uses the same elements of the pilot program.
It enrolls working adults who volunteer to visit a middle school for four visits. The program is so effective that administrations from elementary schools have requested bringing Role Model into their classrooms. For the people involved with Role Model, the program helps young people not only realize their dreams, but helps them reach their potential.
"The message is that you can be empowered and that you can have your own life if you stay in school," says program manager Gail Wiest-Haywood. "It's so important for children to realize that people in this world care about them, that they take time out of their day to spend time with them."
That's what makes the program so important and effective, especially considering the number of working adults who can't make time for children period. The program consists of adult volunteers who have contacted the organization, or completed an application posted on the program's website.
There is no cost to schools to have role models visit their classrooms. A nonprofit organization funded largely by grants and donations, Role Model seeks to inspire children who, when asked, cite superstars such as Michael Jordan as an adult influence.
That may change thanks to countless adults, including Gonzales, who made school visits this year to Castro Middle School. The Role Model also came to two schools in the Campbell Union School District--Monroe Middle and Campbell Middle this year.
Campbell resident Debra Martin recently left the high-tech world seeking volunteer work dealing specifically with kids, and found Role Model to be a perfect fit. When asked why she left, Martin says she needed the change.
"I had a very successful career," Martin says. "Now I hope to have a successful volunteer career."
Martin became a role model at Monroe Middle School, where she helped explain to children about her early interests in high- tech. It seems the children were more impressed that she was with them, and not talking silicon in a board room.
"They were most amazed that someone would take the time," says Martin, who will be doing the program in the fall. "They were shocked that I was here because I wanted to be and I wasn't paid to do it."
In the program, role models fill out applications and teachers at schools where the program will be implemented get information about them from the organization. This is so each volunteer role model can fit within the needs of the school. For example, if one school needs a music teacher, then Role Model can send someone with that background.
Volunteers make four one-hour visits to a classroom. During the first visit, role models discuss how they chose their professions. Students are asked how they choose their role models and keep track of their responses and ideas in an interactive workbook. On the second visit, students discuss empowerment and volunteers ask children about their strengths, Haywood says. On the role model's third visit, everyone talks about setting goals and how to go from graduating middle school to landing a job as a lawyer, for example. By the fourth visit, children learn about careers and how they can fit into an adult world.
"You'd have no idea how many of them don't know what's out there," Haywood says. "They make plans on how to get there."
One lawyer took his class to a courtroom to see him negotiate. One police officer in the mounted unit brought in his horse. Every role model in the program aims in the direction of the program's three key concepts: key to success, empowerment and skills to make positive choices.
For more information on volunteering for The Role Model Program, contact 408.246.0433, or view the website at www.therolemodelprogram.org.
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Campbell, California
