First Semester has came to an end, and we are extremely proud of our students. Mr. Medina and I  will now sit down in the next couple of days to go over all final semester grades. The last three years Mr. Medina and I have been sending out letters to our Lincoln parents explaining, what we did first semester, and what their student needs to improve in, for second semester. Lincoln Staff wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The time has come, finals are 3 Days away! We had a great number of students showing up for tutoring after school the last couple of weeks. We been plugging away and turning in missing assignments like no other. We are fortunate to have teachers come down and support our students by bringing down  missing assignments, or sitting with their student to give them extra support with the worksheet they are working on. For the last two weeks,  at the end of each session, two of our wonderful Mentors gave advice on what you should or should not do the night before finals, and how to be ready on finals day. The attention that the Mentors got when they were going over tips and how to study and prepare, was priceless.  The students seem to pay more attention to the mentors going over their own techniques, then the adults. We are all in hope things will go well,  and we wish our students good luck!

Its Great to be a lancer! Just like every other Tuesday, checking grades is our priority! The students, are starting to realize that their grades are looking much better now, then when we first met them. We cant stress enough, to tell you how important it is as a freshman to pass your classes. I could be the first to say, Tests aren't always my thing! So, I understand how nervous our freshman may get, with the amount of stress they have on their shoulders right now. Mr. Medina, the Mentors and I have decided, for the next two weeks of studying for finals, we will spend the last 5 minutes of each session giving them tips on how to study, and how to relax on test day.

We are back from a very relaxing thanksgiving break, and Finals are just right around the corner!
We noticed from previous years, our students get extremely nervous around finals time! Our Focus for the next 3 weeks is to buckle down and to try and pick up our students failing grades as much as possible, before they take their finals. Since we only go 2 days a week after school at Lincoln, we will be using both of our days as homework sessions.
 Starting this week, I will give each mentor a sheet of paper that has their mentees failing grades, missing assignments and what room number the teacher is in, so they can go pick up the missing work. Our goal  is to have ALL of our kids passing the first semester as a group.

Thanks Giving break is already almost here! We ended on a great note last week, our students were happy to start the weekend knowing that this is a our last week before Thanksgiving break. Our goal is to push grades and attendance as much as possible this week so we can end strong. Its always a struggle to get the students to show up after school before they get a big break like this, but this is by far the most proactive group I've work with here at Lincoln. once we are back from break its time to start working for FINALS. where has this year gone?

Happy Monday! Last week was a short but productive week at Lincoln. On Tuesday of last week, I sat with each mentee and went over grades and attendance. Now that we are fully up and running this is something I will do with each student every Tuesday. I like to sit with each mentee and mentor and go over what classes he/she has brought up from the following week, what classes they were missing throughout the week and why, then go over and write down what class/ teacher he/she needs to go in and work on. Last week, we did a speed dating activity, where Mentors interviewed the Mentees. Mentors had to come up with questions to ask the Mentees, so they can have a better understanding on what's going on in classes.  This is a way for our Mentors to pick what Mentee they would want to work with for the school year. Now that we are partnered up, we are excited to start seeing some great changes within our students.

Happy Halloween! We are back from a well rested 4 day weekend. Here at Lincoln, the students got Thursday and a Friday off. With that said, we only got to see our students on Tuesday of last week.
  For being a short week, it was still a productive week as Mr. Medina and I walked around and talked to each individual student about their failing grades. Starting on Tuesday of this week, I will be checking grades of each student in the program. Usually, how it was done last year was, I found what classes have low grades, I print out what percentage they have in the class, what they are missing, and how many missing assignments they have to turn in to bump them up their grade to passing. We are excited to see grades start going up in the next few weeks.

Good Morning,
We are ready to start up the 3rd week of YESS. We have had a great number of Mentees and Mentors showing up after school for the past two weeks. Tuesdays and Thursdays,  have been homework sessions only, until we reached a good number of students who have all been introduced.
 Now, that we are all getting familiar with one another, this week we will sit down and partner up for the year. We will also be starting EMO smarts every Thursday. We are happy on how smooth things have been going for us at Lincoln.

Its time to start up another great week! YESS here at Lincoln was a success last week as we officially started up. We had a great number of students down stairs who were ready to get down to business. unfortunately,  Tuesday we hit a bit of a road block.
 Right before lunch was about to start on Tuesday, the school was having problems with the pluming in the cafeteria. This problem then led to closing it down due to the smell and water that started coming up from the water futons and sinks. There's so many activities going on after school, we struggled to find a place for our students. We were all excited to start up, we didn't want to cancel! The Mentors came up with the idea of all of us sitting in the main hall, on the ground floor to get some work done. Even though the mentees were bumped that they didn't get a free day, work still got done and turned in. We are all in hope that we do not have a problem like that again this week.

Here at Lincoln, Staff and Mentors are excited to start up on our first official Tuesday of the 2016-2017 school year. We are all in hope, that we will have a big crowd for our first week. Staying after school to get tutored isn't a Freshman's first choice, but pointing out the importance of why we are staying, is when students start to put their guard down and start understanding more and trusting more. Lets see how our first week goes!

Lincoln is in the process of finishing up last minute duties before we start up! Mr. Medina and I have met with all the Mentees and Mentors for the 2016-2017 school year. Remember here at Lincoln, YESS is different from all the other amazing schools! Lincoln is an after school program that meets every Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesdays are homework days, Mentees partner up with their Mentors to sit down and get some homework done. Thursdays are the days we work on our EMO Smarts. Our Mentors sit down with our Mentees and try to gain their trust first, then they start working on how they can help their mentees learn how to calm down and not act out. Also, how to express their feelings in different ways by learning about hot buttons. We are fortunate that we have a lot of returning students from last year who already know the procedure. We are all excited to see what the school year brings us.  

Its almost time! Lincoln has been in school for about a month now, and Mr. medina and I are finishing up the process of identifying our Mentees and Mentors. Our Mentors are getting more and more anxious and curious  to see the new faces that are going to be with us this year. we are fortunate that we have a lot of returning Mentors/Mentees who will be transitioning into Mentors this year. Our program is now turning into a little family downstairs and we hope to build our family even bigger as the program comes to a start.

 

Hi, my name is Alejandra Rivera and I am a senior. The reason why I joined YESS is because I'm a softball player, anybody who plays a sport knows how difficult it can be to maintain school work when you have practice and games that run kind of late. I had so much work that I needed help on, Coach Medina pushed me to join YESS because he knew I could get the help I was seeking for. Now, I transitioned from a young mentee to a mentor Leader, and I couldn't be more grateful! You get to make friends you never expected to make. these friendships really hit home because they're kids with the same backgrounds as me. Its so gratifying being able to help them set an example!

Leslie Marquez

 

            I heard about the YESS Mentoring program my freshman year from Mr. Medina because I as well was on the softball team and he was the coach. I decided to join because I knew it was going to help me stay on track with all my classes, if I did have an F in any of my classes I would not be able to play softball and I didn’t want that.  I started as a mentee, but all of the softball team would sit together so the upperclassmen girls would always help me. They really showed the leadership skills that they had been taught in school or on the field with Mr. Medina. I stayed in YESS sophomore year as well, and my junior year was when I became a lead mentor. Taking this role was really important, I had to take the responsibility of teaching others and being there for them. Creating strong bonds with students, helping them pass their classes and just seeing them grow is honestly an amazing feeling. To know that I take part of this program makes me feel so proud of myself and I truly enjoy being in it. I’m looking forward to continue being a lead mentor my senior year.