Step By Step
Dream Work Grow
StrengthCorps
A resilience and objective focused mentoring program.
What is StrengthCorps?
In the StrengthCorps program, mentors help young West Virginians discover and build upon their personal strengths as they overcome obstacles and move toward their dreams.
For more information, contact Douglas Walters at walters.douglasj@gmail.com
Step 1: Identify Students
Identify the young people in the community that would benefit most from counseling and mentoring.
Step 2: Communicate with Students
Communicate with the students honestly about the program and what they want to do with their lives. Help them to achieve their goals with objective-based counseling and weekly contact.
Step 3: Discover Strengths and Provide Support
Help the students discover their unique Strengths, understand what that means for them personally, and provide support for them throughout their growing years.
The program uses proven methods to improve the lives of the youth in WV.
We see how much good it can do.
Solid research:
When resilient youth are provided a caring mentor, good things are likely to happen.
This is a five year project.
We are looking for the most effective way to apply a mentoring model in our underfunded rural and inner-city schools.
Chapmanville Middle School
Logan Middle School
Man Middle School
Horace Mann Middle School
In our first year,
We tried different approaches. Two of the schools had great results. We're detailing what they did right so other schools can do the same.
Our challenge:
Show that this approach is worth the money. We'll declare victory if we get the kind of results in other schools that Chapmanville Middle School got in 2017-18.
Chapmanville Middle School is located in a depressed coal mining area with high rates of diabetes and opioid abuse and underfunded schools.
If they can find success with the program, your school can too!
But don't just take our word for it...
Hear from a teacher mentor and an administrator.
DeWayne Cook, art teacher at Logan County's Man Middle School, has mentored 28 high-risk students in the past two years.
Michelle Podunavak, principal at Logan County's Chapmanville Middle School, is so impressed with StrengthCorps results, she decided to assign a teacher mentor to every student for 2019-2020.
Learn More...
Please contact Doug Walters at walters.douglasj@gmail.com to learn more about the Strengths program.