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OFE News Release

Foundation for Excellence to Sponsor Workshop on How to Establish a Corporate Mentoring Program

October 2, 2007
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence will present a two-hour workshop titled “How to Establish a Corporate Mentoring Program” on Thursday, Nov. 1, at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center’s Raymond A. Young Conference Center, 3300 Northwest Expressway, Oklahoma City. Registration for the event begins at 8:30 a.m., with the workshop scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m.

The foundation, through its David & Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative, is sponsoring the workshop to provide Oklahoma businesses with the tools necessary to establish safe and effective corporate mentoring programs serving youth. Those interested in registering for the workshop can download a registration form at www.okmentors.org. Registration is $15. The foundation is planning to offer a similar workshop in the Tulsa area early next year.

Kathy Lowder, community health improvement specialist at INTEGRIS; Wendi Schuur, manager of public relations at Devon Energy; and Robyn Hilger, director of Partners in Education for the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation; will conduct the workshop. A panel discussion will include topics on recognizing company resources, selecting a school site, and coordinating employee recruitment and incentives. Following the panel discussion, attendees will participate in round table discussions with each of the workshop presenters.

Corporate mentoring programs allow employees to leave their workplace for an hour a week to mentor a child at a local school. Research shows that employees who volunteer as mentors show an increase in productivity, return to work happier, and learn important skills such as listening and teamwork. Both INTEGRIS and Devon have employees serving as mentors in local schools.

“At Devon, community involvement is one of the company’s core values, and employees understand it is the right thing to do,” Schuur said. “Volunteerism builds a cohesive, motivated workforce and instills a sense of pride in employees that they are part of an organization that understands the importance of being a good corporate citizen.”

The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools. In 2005, the foundation launched the Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and development of school-based mentoring statewide. The initiative grew out of Boren’s own commitment to mentoring and the proven impact that mentoring can play on a student’s success in and out of the classroom.

“Think what would happen if all children in Oklahoma had mentors – someone to spend time with them, to tutor them, to love them,” Boren said. “Think how it would transform this state? It would be truly revolutionary!”

Through the mentoring initiative, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is working with school districts and its network of 200 public school foundations to promote mentoring as a positive step toward academic excellence. The foundation is also providing training and networking opportunities for new and established mentoring programs, and encouraging programs to follow established standards for safe and effective practice.

For more information on the workshop, visit www.okmentors.org or call Boren Mentoring Initiative Director Jennifer Geren at (405) 410-1523.