For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Adrianne Watson
402.690.8326
MEDIA ALERT
LINCOLN NE –TeamMates coordinators, board members and mentors from over 100 communities across Nebraska, Iowa and California gathered this week at TeamMates Annual Partnership Meeting. Each year the two day meeting brings together the TeamMates leadership for training, guest speakers, and educational session. The meetings are concluded with an awards ceremony celebrating mentoring and preparing to kick off the program for the upcoming school year. TeamMates leadership joined Tom and Nancy Osborne, the co-founders of the program, to revisit the original inspiration for the program.
Dr. Shane Lopez was the keynote speaker. Dr. Lopez leads research on the links between hope, strengths development, academic success, and overall wellbeing and collaborates with scholars around the world on these issues. His talk focused on creating hope and enhancing the strengths of students. Lopez advocates for a whole-school strengths model that also builds the strengths expertise of educators, parents, and youth development organizations. Dr. Lopez works for Gallup's Clifton Strengths Institute.
The following TeamMates communities celebrated their ten year anniversary and were honored for their commitment to a decade of mentoring: Aurora, Boone Central, Centennial, Franklin, Milford, Sandy Creek, Seward, and York
In addition to programs celebrating anniversaries, new communities were welcomed to the TeamMates Mentoring. Those recognized for completing their first year with TeamMates include Nebraska communities of Bridgeport, Maywood, Mullen, Schuyler, and Sutherland and Boyer Vallery and Waterloo in Iowa.
The TeamMates Mentoring Program relies on outstanding local leadership to provide quality mentoring services across Nebraska and Iowa. The communities of Fairbury, Holdrege, Boone Central, and Waterloo, IA were honored for outstanding mentoring programs. Sheila Essary of Nebraska City, Darrell Miller of Wayne, Kim Baliman of Kimball and Julie Lausterer of Saunders County were recognized for outstanding volunteerism. Chad Denker of Seward, Janyce Warneke of Plainview, Maurie Deines of Scotts Bluff County, and Jessica Plueger were honored for outstanding program coordination.
In addition to outstanding program leadership, outstanding TeamMates matches were honored. The following mentors and mentees were recognized for excellence in mentoring: John Owens and Caleb McCartney of Seward, Cathy Kohl and Samantha Reichenberg of Columbus, Brent Block and Tyrell Dewey of Gothenburg, and Kevin Christensen and Justin Krum of Missouri Valley, IA.
The Dreamer Award was presented to Adrian Fiala, long time supporter of TeamMates mentoring, for his organization of the annual Husker Heritage Golf Tournament held in Gothenburg. Proceeds from the event provide dollars for the local Gothenburg mentoring program.
The mission of the TeamMates Mentoring Program is to positively impact the world by inspiring youth to reach their full potential. The TeamMates Mentoring Program was founded in 1991 by Tom and Nancy Osborne to provide support and encouragement to school-aged youth.
To join the team and be a mentor, call 1-877-531-8326 or go to www.teammates.org
