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As Mentors Honored, Mentee Learns of $10,000 Scholarship
January 20, 2005, Warwick Beacon (Rhode Island)

By KELLY SMITH

As the city took time yesterday morning to celebrate yet another National Mentoring Month, Pilgrim High School senior Christopher Anderson was sitting through exams. The recipient of the annually awarded Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans scholarship, Anderson credits his own mentor for his success in school and for having won the scholarship.

"He's proud of me," said Chris of his mentor, Lee. The two have been meeting weekly since Chris was in the fifth grade.

Throughout his life, Chris has faced many challenges. Not only did his mother give him up when he was in the seventh grade, but his father and stepmother decided after a few months of him living with them that they didn't want him either.

"One day, I was doing homework and my stepmother came in and said, 'Pack your bags. You're out of here.' They shipped me off to my grandparents' house."

By eighth grade, Chris was living with his maternal grandparents and just when everything seemed to be getting back on track, he was diagnosed with having a cyst on his spine. A hereditary disease, Chris got the worst of the disease as he was barely able to work and was forced to stay home rather than work, as many teens his age do.

"Rather than work and save money for college, I had to stay home and do nothing," said Chris.

Though he's had an operation to clean the growth out in the past, Chris undergoes another surgery next week.

"But, even though I missed school from April until the end of the year, I had a tutor home school me and I still managed to stay on the honor roll."

In spite of it all, Chris manages to volunteer as an altar server and Eucharistic minister at St. Timothy Church, as well as an assistant teacher for the church's CCD classes.

Chris said he's pretty sure he wouldn't have come as far as he has were it not for Lee stepping in as the father figure he never had in his own dad.

"He never really showed an interest in me," he said of his father. "I learned to deal with it and just accept that's the way things are."

Chris, however, admitted there were times when living at his father's house he thought about suicide. Having Lee to help him through, he said, was invaluable.

"He really helped me," he said. "I was really bad and he told me to make sure I didn't do anything dumb. It was horrible, but Lee really helped me through it."

That's not all Lee has done for Chris. According to him, Lee has "taught me not to be shy."

"I've grown a lot from my freshman year," he said. "He has helped me to develop into who I am today. He really has been a father figure to me."

Each year, the Horatio Alger Association awards roughly 100 $10,000 scholarships to students across the country that have faced adversities in their young lives and, in spite of it, managed to serve the community. Named for a 19th century author who wrote over 120 books, most of which were rags-to-riches stories about overcoming adversity, the association was founded in 1947. Anderson was the only Rhode Islander given the award and the first Pilgrim High School student to receive it.

In 1995 Pilgrim Spanish teacher Carmen Pena won the award. A Shea High School graduate, Pena was faced with her own challenges when, among other things, her father died of ALS. Unable to afford to save for college, Pena was forced to work in order to pay bills and other household expenses.

"It is a real true honor to be elected for the award," said Pena, adding the wealth an Alger Scholar gains from being chosen is not just monetary. Instead, recipients become part of a lifelong association. Not only are members invited to yearly conferences, the first of which for Chris will be this April, but they are checked on while in college and are asked to be part of the conference staff after graduation from college.

"It's a lifelong achievement," she said.

Pilgrim Principal Dennis Mullen said Chris is perfect for the award as he perfectly exemplifies what the association is looking for.

"I am very impressed by Chris' maturity and his ability to overcome such adversity in his life," he said. "It's a worthy award for a worthy student."

Mullen attended the morning's ceremony at City Hall. There, he gave the definition of a mentor.

"A wise and trusted counselor," he said, "that's exactly what mentors are. They create a better feeling about school, family and [the mentee's] own progress."

Mullen said his own child had a mentor while at Cedar Hills Elementary School.

"She did a tremendous job with my daughter," he said. "I am tremendously grateful for her efforts. The block of time mentors spend with their mentees many times is the child's lifeline to success."

Also present at the ceremony were Mayor Scott Avedisian, Superintendent Robert Shapiro, Director of Elementary Education Robert Bushell, RI Mentoring Partnership/Feinstein Mentor Network Executive Director Arlene McNulty, the Winman Junior High School Chorale and its director, Kristine Gervais, seven Oakland Beach Elementary School mentees and their assistant principal, Alfred Monaco, Aldrich Junior High mentee Courtney Cribari, as well as dozens of mentors from around the city.

"I have had a mentor for about five years and it's been wonderful," said Cribari. "My mentor's name is Ginger Flynn. She is a great person but an even better mentor. Throughout the years we've been mentor and mentee, we really learned a lot about each other and I'm not afraid to talk to her about anything. It's so great to have people there to listen while you talk, even if it's about some silly little fight my friends and I had."

Courtney went on about how she looks forward each week to meeting with her mentor and sharing test results with her and other things that have happened over the last seven days.

"My younger brother recently got a mentor as well," she said. "His self-confidence is improving, along with his schoolwork. So, for me, I definitely have enough evidence to convince me that this truly is a great program, and I hope I've also convinced you as well."

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, contact the RI Mentoring Partnership/Feinstein Mentor Network at the Chamber Education Foundation at 732-7700. For more information about the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans' annual scholarships, visit their website at www.horatioalger.org.

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