Mentor Partnerships

How to Work with Local Teachers

• Request time to present about YEC and the benefits to the all students and faculty/staff (or at least High School/Middle School teachers)
• Pitch YEC in a way that is easy to understand and appealing
• Find a teacher to be your champion – doesn’t have to be a business teacher
• Connect teachers with other teachers that have done this in the past
• Connect teachers with educational materials
• Connect teachers with resource partners or mentors
• Volunteer to teach a session or find a guest speaker for the teacher
• Make sure the teachers know star students to push forward and encourage to compete
• Work with educational pathways
• Develop a good relationship with school administration – this will trickle down
• Let the teachers know they don’t have to change their curriculum but can instead incorporate this into their existing curriculum
• Don’t discourage teachers’ ideas
• Let the teachers have a say in the project to create buy-in. For example, allow them to help make decisions on the guest speaker, date/time, and/or what the event looks like.
• Offer to come into the classroom as often as needed to assist the kids
• Be accessible for whenever the teacher has questions
• Be a support system
• Follow up every couple of weeks to check in on progress
• Start talking to schools as early as possible
• Pitch YEC as a youth development opportunity, a way to bridge the gap between school and the real world for students, and a way to develop soft skills
• Keep the teachers in the loop. Communicate, communicate, communicate!