Last week EnTeam launched the first session of six for the Teen Mentoring and Employment Training at the Youth and Family Center on Cass Ave. in St.Louis City. This work is being led by EnTeam Executive Director, Ted Wohlfarth, who created an exciting six-week curriculum that helps students connect the mentoring skills they will learn to the skills they need to join the work force.

The agenda last week took the students through the process of getting to know one another by playing a game called Unique and Similar. In this game everyone in the room finds ways that they are unique from one another and similar to one another. This allowed the group to get to know each other, then they ready to list their life goals, career goals and education goals on note cards. The group then discussed the relationship between goals and positive interdependence. Working with the kids to clearly outline and discuss their goals was amazing! Some knew just what to write, while others labored over where they wanted their lives to go.

After a little discussion about goals, the group was led in the EnTeam Game: Keeping on Track. In this game, students are asked to move a ping pong ball from one end of the room to another, placing the ball in a bag to score a point. To do this students are given ping pong balls, special tracks that they hold in their hands to move the balls and a list of rules. They are told to do anything they want as long as they don’t break the rules.

That is the hard part, not breaking the rules. This means they have to think outside the box, discuss ideas and strategies, work together and think independently all while following the rules. When the game started the students were faced with making a plan, it was hard for them, and they were looking to the adults in the room for direction. But, the adults were reminded to let the students figure it out on their own. And they did, the game was played several times, scoring group best and each time the score increased!

After the game the group sat in a circle and talked about what they learned and what it had to do with getting a job. One girl shared that playing the game is like looking for a job “You have to talk to your community and ask for help”. Their homework assignment was to write down situations where they may need to share an idea or feedback with someone who does not understand what is important to them. The homework feeds into this week’s agenda which is set to focus on Listening and Constructive Feedback.

We are really excited to have the opportunity to work with the students at The Youth and Family Center and look forward to sharing news of our progress here on our blog. We have about 15 kids in our program from schools all over St.Louis and we have had fun working with all of them and look forward to the next five sessions.