Join us in congratulating Tim Kuhn, one of our long-time star mentors, who received the Virginia Mentoring Partnership award for 2013 Mentor of the Year for his work with his Casa Chirilagua mentee. The Virginia Mentoring Partnership gives away two of these awards each year, based on applications which include reference letters from the mentoring program and a personal reference.
We are extremely proud of Tim and his mentee for working so hard to achieve their academic goals together. It is an honor for one of our mentors to receive state-wide recognition, as a participant in our young program.
Our Mentoring Director, received a personal recommendation from Tim’s mentee’s mother. Below is her letter.
“Tim Kuhn has been mentoring our son, for three years. He is like a member of the family. He’s respectful and takes very good care of our son. He teaches him to have good behavior and academic expectations. Tim is very committed. He is very responsible and is always very punctual.”
“Tim comes every Wednesday and makes sure to call far in advance if he is unable to meet. Tim makes sure that our son completes his homework assignments and has also created a rewards system for when he completes tasks. There are times when our son is not in the mood to do work, but Tim doesn’t lose heart; he continues to motivate him and tries other strategies. During the beginning of the 2013 school year, our son wasn’t paying attention at school or to Tim. The school called us and told us that he was failing Math. Tim was also aware of this. Tim began working with him and helped him improve on his math assignments.”
“Tim has been a great example of leadership. He puts forth the effort to motivate our son when he needs it. The fact that our son trusts him speaks volumes; there are few people he trusts and Tim’s consistency as his mentor is what has gained his trust. After three years, Tim knows how to read our son.”
“Tim also goes above and beyond as a mentor. At the end of the 2012-2013 school year (when our son was in the 4th grade), with the constant help of Tim, he was able to improve 2 reading levels. His teachers were very impressed and Tim was overjoyed. Tim received a copy of our son’s report card and read the comments of the ‘Success for All’ reading teacher Ms. Virginia Doherty, which read: “Your son has taken reading class very seriously this quarter. He has worked hard and his progress has shown. He has improved two grade levels in reading this year. If he continues to read and to question what he is reading to make sure that it makes sense, I think he will be on grade level by the end of 5th grade.” Tim was so proud that he made a special certificate for him, complimenting his hard work and achievement. Our son was so happy to receive this special certificate Tim has made him. It is displayed proudly on our living room wall.”
“We are very happy with Tim. He has never left our son and he is always there for him. We hope he receives the award for mentor of the year because he deserves it.”
