OFE News Release
Miller Mentoring Program Volunteer Tim Holt to be Honored During National Mentoring Month
January 3, 2010
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| Yukon banker and Miller Mentoring Program volunteer Tim Holt (right), shown here with mentee James, will be honored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence on “Thank Your Mentor Day” Jan. 21 at the State Capitol. |
OKLAHOMA CITY – Yukon banker and community leader Tim Holt, a longtime volunteer for Yukon Public Schools Miller Mentoring Program, will be honored as an outstanding mentor on “Thank Your Mentor Day,” Thursday, Jan. 21, at the State Capitol.
Holt will be honored as one of two runners up for the David and Molly Boren Mentoring Award presented by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative. The awards ceremony, which recognizes outstanding mentors from across the state, is being held in conjunction with National Mentoring Month in January.
Holt, who is executive vice president for Bank of Commerce, has volunteered for the Miller Mentor Program at Skyview Elementary School for more than seven years. Miller Mentors, named for Yukon’s Miller Man mascot, is part of the Helping Hand Volunteer and Mentoring Program of Yukon Public Schools. For the past three years, Holt has met weekly at school with his current mentee James. The pair enjoy playing games, working on school work, reading books and just chatting.
Holt said he likes to encourage James to do well in school and will often pick books to read together to help meet James’ reading goals.
“To me, reading is the whole foundation of school success,” Holt said. “If you can read well, you can do well in lots of different subjects.”
Since he began mentoring James, Holt said he has seen many positive changes. “He’s gotten more positive about school and he’s more conversational. He also seems to have more pride in himself.”
Linda Jenkins, a counselor at Skyview Elementary School, said James treasures his time with Holt. “I witnessed James looking up with excitement in his eyes when he would see Tim for his weekly visits. If he knew it was getting close to the time that Tim was supposed to mentor, he would track me down to ask, ‘Where’s Tim.?’ He began to talk to Tim eye to eye, which was a big step for James!”
Jenkins praised Holt for the way he “thoughtfully crafts his words and asks James great questions to help him decide what he needs to do to move forward.” James’ teachers have also commented that he is more consistent with getting his school work completed and turned in.
Holt said he got involved in the Miller Mentoring Program when he learned about the high need for male mentors. “Young boys look up to men, and a lot of kids don’t have a positive male role model in the home. We need more men in our community stepping up to the plate to be a mentor.”
Holt said one of the benefits of being a mentor has been the opportunity to watch his mentees grow and mature. One of his former mentees will soon be graduating from high school. When asked what lessons he hopes to pass on to the young men he mentors, Holt said, “I want them to understand how important it is to do well in school. I want them to know that they each have the ability to achieve great things. I also want them to know that there are caring adults in our community who are willing and happy to help them.”
Holt has helped recruit many more volunteers for the Miller Mentoring Program by encouraging his bank employees to become mentors. “It’s important to give back to the school system and the community, and it’s a great influence on our employees. The kids are fun, and they keep us young.”
Christine Sorrels, director of Yukon’s Helping Hand Volunteer & Mentor Program, said Tim Holt excels as a role model to young and old. “When I think about the ideal person to be a role model, an honest and true person and an outstanding mentor, I think of Tim. His consistency with the program and with the students he has mentored has been exemplary,” she said. “He not only ‘talks the talk,’ but he ‘walks the walk’ in his daily public and personal life. James is fortunate to have Tim as a mentor enriching his life. We all should be so lucky to have Tim Holt in our lives as a mentor.”
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. 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 have on a student’s success in and out of the classroom.
For more information on the Boren Mentoring Initiative or National Mentoring Month activities, visit www.okmentors.org or call Jennifer Geren, program director, at (405) 410-1523. For information on Yukon’s Helping Hands Program, call (405) 354-3716, Ext. 1031.