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OFE News Release

Foundation Launches Boren Mentoring Award to Recognize Outstanding Oklahoma Mentor

November 14, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, through its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative, is accepting nominations for the inaugural David L. Boren Mentoring Award, which honors an outstanding mentor in Oklahoma. All mentoring programs that have registered through the Foundation’s mentoring initiative Web site at www.okmentors.org are eligible to nominate mentors.

The winner will be honored at a reception and will be recognized in publicity during National Mentoring Month in January. The Foundation will present the honoree with a plaque and will donate $500 in the winner’s honor to benefit his or her mentoring organization.

A nomination form may be submitted by the mentoring program for which the nominee volunteers or by a staff member from a school where the nominee mentors. A mentoring program may submit up to three nominations. Nomination forms are available online at www.okmentors.org and are due by Friday, Nov. 28.

The winner will be selected based on his or her impact on the mentee, impact on the mentoring program, the length of the mentor/mentee match, and creative examples of mentoring activities.

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, public school foundations and businesses to promote mentoring as a positive step toward academic excellence. The foundation also provides training and networking opportunities for new and established mentoring programs and encourages programs to follow established standards for safe and effective practice.

For more information on the award, visit www.okmentors.org or call Jennifer Geren at (405) 410-1523.