FISD Mentoring Program Helps Students Find Their Green Path

By Bill Sullivan

With graduation just around the corner, many high school seniors still wrestle with the big question: What am I going to do with the rest of my life? It’s not exactly a trivial issue, and many will need a few more years of experimentation, trial, and error before any kind of real answer might reveal itself.

For those who already have a better idea of what the future might hold, Frisco Independent School District offers a friendly nudge in the right direction: The Independent Study and Mentorship program.

For the spring semester of 2011, seniors Kaitlin Cox (Liberty) and Nicole Martin (Frisco High) have benefitted from the mentoring of Frisco Environmental Services Manager Pippa Couvillion and Environmental Education Coordinator Jeremy Starritt. Both Cox and Martin are interested in environmental issues, so what better starting point than the city’s award-winning program?

In addition to learning about waste management and recycling, Cox and Martin also have conducted interviews with other professionals in and around Frisco, including a meeting with Mayor Maher Maso. By the time the two graduate, the ISM program will have provided valuable insights into their fields of interest while allowing them to polish their social, networking and interviewing skills.

The program, approximately 10 years old, is available in all FISD high schools. Prospective ISM students go through a screening and interview process that weighs criteria such as grades, teacher evaluations and coursework. This year, approximately 110 students participated, according to DiAnn Hill, who heads up the program for Centennial and Liberty High Schools.

Those who make the cut can choose from a wide range of topics, from dance and fashion design to politics and chemical engineering. Even if they might be leaning toward a different career, students have the option of picking and pursuing a subject in which they have a strong interest. FISD then helps them connect with mentors in the community who are willing to donate time and share their expertise in a given area.

“It’s a wonderful program where kids can make a career choice and find their way through what that all might mean,” Martin said.

It’s also a lot of work, and not for everyone.

“It’s not a typical high school class,” Cox said. “It’s something you have to want to do.”

Martin wants to be a chemical engineer with a basis in mechanical engineering.

“I want to create technologies that will be more environmentally friendly, more sustainable and more efficient,” she said.

By Martin’s count, Couvillion took her to interview about a dozen people in and around Frisco.  The extent of the City’s commitment to environmental concerns was a revelation.

“I didn’t realize how much the program had grown under her leadership,” Martin said. “It was incredible to see how much we actually recycle in this city.”

The experience affirmed her interest in trying to make a difference in changing the way people view waste and recycling.

“It’s so ridiculous how we have all these incredible technologies that blow people’s minds away, but we still throw our trash in big heaps and cover them in the ground and hope that in 10 years or so we won’t have to deal with it,” she said.

“Everything we throw away is made of something usable. At some point, we did use it. And there are materials in there we could make usable again. So why are we just throwing it away?”

The youngest member of her graduating class, Martin originally hails from California but spent her high school years in Frisco. She has decided to attend Brigham Young University in the fall and credits the ISM program for helping develop her poise, confidence and people skills.

“The most incredible thing I’ve learned from it is the ability to communicate with people and understand business etiquette,” she said. “Before this, I did not like talking to people. I did not like giving speeches or interviewing or anything like that.

“Once I was in the program that completely changed. I had interviews for scholarships, and I was totally unafraid. I could go in there and say whatever I needed to say without any sort of reservation.”

A summer spent in Colorado during her early teens inspired Kaitlin Cox to think about the environment.

“It was being around all that beauty and all those people trying to preserve it,” she recalls. “When I came back here, it was something I wanted to try to make happen everywhere.”

Like Martin, Cox says the ISM experience has helped validate her career choice. She isn’t sure whether that will take her into working with a city, joining a nonprofit, or venturing into politics, but environmental issues are definitely in her future.

Cox also stresses the boost ISM has given her in terms of personal development.

“Being in this program has made a huge difference,” she said. “I remember going into an interview, and I was really shy, really nervous. I stuttered a lot and repeated things.

“Having this experience really helped me get past all that.”

DiAnn Hill credits FISD for having the vision to see the value in such a program a decade ago.

“Every time I talk to students such as Kaitlin Cox and see the excitement in their eyes when they discuss what they are learning and the experiences provided them by their mentors, I fall in love with this program all over again,” she said.

Currently, Martin, Cox and their fellow ISM students are wrapping up their internships and preparing for their final presentations, which begin the week of May 23. That involves setting up a room at school and giving friends, family and teachers a detailed briefing on their ISM experiences and what they have learned.

Students also have to provide their own catering: For a trial run in January, Cox opted to bring fondue.

“It was a hit, so I’ll probably do that again,” she said.

The fondue, she expects, will be the easy part.

“It’s a fun night,” she said, “but I’m a little nervous about it, too.  It’s pretty stressful.”

Next up, she plans to attend Colorado Christian College in Denver, where she hopes to become involved with the school’s new recycling program. Her ISM experience, she believes, will make her more focused and ready to succeed.

“Most of my friends don’t really know what they want to do,” she said. “This program makes you think a lot. You’re going to college knowing what you want and what you don’t want.

“It’s going to make for an easier transition.”

Tags: environmental engineering, Frisco Environmental Services, Frisco High, Frisco ISD, Frisco Liberty High School, Independent Study and Mentorship Program