Mentors help students dream big
January 22, 2007, Cincinnati Enquirer

By JOHN JOHNSTON

Their awkward introduction came two years ago.

Ida Robinson, an African-American girl who's shy around strangers, was afraid to face Mai Vu, a young woman of Vietnamese descent who had volunteered to be her mentor.

But it didn't take long for Ida, who is now 9, to warm to Mai (pronounced "my") and flash her dimpled smile.

Their outings typically began with Mai stopping by Ida's home, a third-floor apartment on a bleak section of Vine Street in Mount Auburn. From there, the pair might go to the zoo, the aquarium, a live theater performance or the library, where Mai helped Ida with school work.

Whatever the activity, Mai found ways to teach small but important social skills, such as the proper way to talk on the phone, order at a restaurant or speak to an adult.

"They've been close," Ida's single mother, Valerie Tobin, says. "Like (Mai) is her big sister, they're that close."

This is National Mentoring Month, which focuses attention on the need for adults to become youth mentors.

At age 24, Mai Vu has a good perspective on that. She chose to be a mentor because she knew it could make a huge difference in someone's life - just as it has in hers.

This is where the story begins. In 2000, Mai was a senior at Hughes Center, a Cincinnati Public school, and living in Westwood with her parents, who emigrated from Vietnam. There were no college graduates in her immediate family. Mai's father is an electrical technician; her mother, a seamstress.

Mai's mother had suffered from kidney failure for years until she got a transplant when Mai was in high school. That's how Mai became interested in health care. She allowed herself to dream she could be a doctor.

The health professions program at Hughes Center gave Mai chances to visit hospitals and meet nurses, therapists and other professionals.

Still, by her senior year, "I didn't have a lot of direction," she says. "I was strongly interested in medicine, but was very uncertain whether I would be able to follow through with college and then go on to medical school. It was kind of a far-fetched goal for me."

That's when an educator at Hughes, Rupa Townsend (now the principal of Clark Montessori), met Dr. Toni M. Robinson-Smith, an academic physician who had recently moved to Cincinnati.

Robinson-Smith is a University of Cincinnati associate professor, a clinical and research surgical pathologist, director of UC's residency and fellowship training programs and an entrepreneur. She and her husband live in Liberty Township.

After hearing Townsend speak about a need for mentors, Robinson-Smith immediately stepped up, despite her busy schedule. She traces her interest in mentoring to two strong women in her life: her mother and grandmother.

Mai was nervous the first time she met the accomplished professional.

Says Robinson-Smith: "I knew immediately there was something very special about her, not only her demeanor but her enthusiasm for life, her desire to help other individuals and to lift herself from her own circumstances."

Robinson-Smith shared stories with Mai. She told her that she understood the insecurities Mai was feeling, because she'd once felt that way herself. She allowed Mai to shadow her at work. She came to Mai's award ceremonies, introduced her to other doctors and gave her a clear idea of what to expect in college.

"I knew how special she was," the doctor says, "and I did not hesitate to tell her."

The result, Mai says, "I slowly stopped doubting myself."

After high school graduation, Mai was admitted as a UC undergraduate on a full minority scholarship. If she needed advice about her pre-med path, Robinson-Smith was never more than a phone call away.

Her junior year, Mai applied to a dozen medical schools, including UC, where Robinson-Smith sits on the admissions committee.

"I was so honored and proud to speak on her behalf," Robinson-Smith says. "She was somebody who deserved to be here."

Two years ago, during her first year as a member of the UC medical school class of 2008, Mai met Dr. Wan Lim, an adjunct professor who in 2001 founded UC Med Mentors, which is part of the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative mentoring program. Mai's studies have placed many demands on her time. But she didn't hesitate to become a mentor.

That didn't surprise Robinson-Smith, who says, "I view these (mentoring) opportunities as cycles. It was instilled in me that if I do this for someone, they're going to do it for someone as well."

Says Mai: "I knew (mentoring) was something I wanted to do because it had such a positive impact on me."

Which brings us back to Ida, who is in third grade at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy.

Given her circumstances - living in low-income housing with fewer resources than many children - Mai says Ida is one of the bravest people she knows.

Ida's mother says her daughter has loved spending time with Mai these past two years. What's more, she says Ida's reading skills have improved immensely in that time. "She's very intelligent," Mai says of Ida. "I don't think she realizes it at times."

The other day Mai brought Ida to UC to have a photo taken for this story. The little girl with braided hair and pigtails put aside her shyness, stuck out her arm and shook hands with Dr. Robinson-Smith for the first time.

Asked what she might do when she grows up, Ida said, "I want to be a doctor or a vet."

Both her mentor and her mentor's mentor look at it this way: Nothing's impossible if somebody believes in you.