Interns - Tutor/Mentor Connection

Interns for Jan-Feb - Assignments

2012-01-28T12:43:00.000-08:00

This pdf is the introduction created by Song Mi Lee, our second Jan/Feb 2012 intern. Visit the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum to see how I coach interns and the projects they develop.

For the past couple of years the first activity I've asked interns to do is to create a visual introduction of themselves and show their range of experiences and their network. Who knows! Maybe one will be related to the CEO of Hyundai or another firm that does business in the US. This is a graphic from another slide Song Mi created. As her friends and family and university network look at what she writes about the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC perhaps one or more will want to become a partner, sponsor, or another volunteer, helping us apply these ideas in Chicago, and helping them apply the ideas in Korea and other countries.

That's the goal of this network building.

Our interns come from a program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. They spend the first few months of their internship taking classes at IIT, then spend six weeks with a community organization. We've been lucky to have IIT interns for several years. This page shows some of the work that has been done.

As alumni, faculty and other students at IIT see this work we hope one will want to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC as a partner and perhaps even fund a program on campus that continues this work well into the future.

It's all about network-building.

New Interns for Jan-Feb 2012

2012-01-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

We have two new interns from IIT and Korea working with the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC this Jan/Feb. They are Song Mi Lee (Stella) and Sung Hee Jung (Jade). This graphic is from an introduction Jade created to show her experiences and her network.

Our goal with these internships is to share the thinking of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC with our interns so that they can then communicate our ideas in their own visual presentations to people in their own networks.

I support this process in this Korea-Chicago group on Ning (most of our interns have been from Korea, but others have come from China and India).

I'm also trying to find interns, researchers, partners and volunteers for this Social Network Analysis group. The graphic that Jade created shows her to be part of a network. The students who have been interns in the past six years are also potentially part of a network as are the students and volunteers who have been part of the tutor/mentor programs I've led since 1975.

If we can harness social network analysis tools we can create a better understanding of the growth of this network over a period of years and we can connect the members of the network to each other in a social problem solving platform where they can each help each other while drawing from all of the information and ideas that we have been aggregating for so many years.

If you'd like to join in or be a sponsor or help in other ways just introduce yourself in the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum.

Advertising Support for Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

2012-01-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

Below is a list of advertisers who have paid a $25-$50 fee to have their web site listed for six or 12 months. We appreciate this support because it helps us continue to do the work we do. If you'd like to be included email tutormentor2@earthlink.net

Visit this link to learn more about advertising opportunities on this blog and four other blogs and web sites hosted by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Health & Wellness
Meet Charles Brooks, a long-term friend of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and read about his wellness journey to good health. Join Wellness Talks on Blog Talk Radio. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trivitawellness . Join Friends of Nopalea on Facebook.

Note: we are testing this concept. Advertisers will be added as they apply.

Design Innovations for Social Change

2011-11-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

This video illustrates a design project that I would like to emulate through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

The video showcases work done by different groups of students and volunteers following the 2011 Tsunami and earthquake in Japan.

At this page I show projects done by interns to visualize and draw attention to ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Institute. In this group you can see how I coach interns in this process.

If I can find sponsors and partners I can create an ongoing design project intended to expand the number of people who provide time, talent and dollars to help youth in high poverty areas move through school and into careers.

If you can help post a message on Twitter or join our Facebook or Ning group to introduce yourself.

Volunteer your talent with Tutor/Mentor Institute

2011-09-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Below is a graphic created last spring by Sam Lee, an intern from IIT working with my organization in Chicago. Work of other interns can be seen in the blog articles on this web site.

Over the summer the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been separated from the non-profit structure of Cabrini Connections. Dan Bassill, president and founder of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection (see time line) has created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC as a new structure to continue the work that has been done for the past 18 years.

We hope that interns, volunteers and different organizations will continue to work with us as they did in the past. While we have had one or two interns every few months working with us, we feel that students in high schools and colleges all over the world could be doing what our interns have been doing. Instead of one student creating an interpretation of a single idea there could be dozens of students creating multiple interpretations. The result would be growing understanding and growing involvement.

If you'd like to get involved join the forum at http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com and introduce yourself.

Networking Strategy of Tutor/Mentor Connection

2011-06-24T07:24:00.001-07:00

Visit the Tutor/Mentor Connection form and see the work interns and volunteers are doing to help Tutor/Mentor Connection reach more people who might become leaders, volunteers and donors in support of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in many cities. This graphic is a new interpretation of a graphic posted in this blog article.

Volunteer Recruitment Video

2011-06-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Minsub Lee, a 2011 intern from IIT and Korea, created this video to support volunteer recruitment. The link on the video points to this page on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site where people from Chicago and other cities can get ideas for mobilizing volunteers.

During the summer we invite teens and volunteers from other programs to submit videos that they create to promote volunteer and donor involvement in tutor/mentor programs. We'll share links to those that do the most to bring these resources to all programs in a geographic area, in addition to the host program.

What can sports stars do?

2011-06-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

This graphic is from a new animated video was created by an intern from Korea working with the Tutor/Mentor Connection during May/June 2011. It was created from the ideas in this pdf and these blog articles. Play video.

Our goal is to teach athletes who already have set up foundations and support youth programs to go one step further and use their visibility to motivate fans to support tutor/mentor programs throughout the city where they play sports. If enough athletes do this, and if some use their web sites and blogs to create their own versions of these videos, we can fill the stands with many more volunteers, donors and fans helping tutor/mentor programs reach inner city kids.

Animation communicates idea in new way

2011-05-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

This graphic is from this animated video created by Sam Lee, an intern from IIT working with the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Spring 2011 Interns add new talent

2011-05-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

This graphic was created by Sam Lee, a new intern from IIT working at the Tutor/Mentor Connection this spring. She read this blog article, then created this interpretation.

Interns from many colleges and high schools can be doing similar interpretations. As they post them to their own blogs and the T/MC forum we can draw more attention to the ideas and more support to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in many cities.

Contact the T/MC if you'd like to be involved.

Service Learning Loop Shows how Volunteer Grows

2011-02-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

In 2007 our second intern from Hong Kong Baptist University, Paul Wei, began to learn to use flash to create animated interpretations of ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. He was not able to complete this project or add a voice-track before he left.

During Jan-Feb 2011 In Hee Cho, an intern from IIT in Chicago, took on this project and created this interpretation.

We hope that many people will look at this and other work done by interns in past years. Through these projects we hope to create new ways to interpret our ideas and motivate more people to adopt them in their own efforts to help inner city youth have the support systems needed to move to jobs and careers.

If your high school or college would like to work with T/MC on these projects, or if your company or foundation can be a sponsor, there is much we can do to provide ideas and guidance that any one in the world might use.

Leadership Pyramid - IIT Intern Project

2011-02-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of the Jan-Feb 2011 internship of Jongseop Won who came to us via IIT and his university in Korea. Here's the information we provided to guild Jonseop in working on this project.

This flash animation is his interpretation.

As others look at this information we hope they see how important it is to have intermediaries like the Tutor/Mentor Connection collecting information and supporting decisions and actions of volunteers and leaders throughout the Chicago region.

Interns creativity on display

2011-01-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

Jongseop Won is one of our winter 2011 interns from Illinois Institute of Technology. This graphic shows how he is creating a new interpretation of the pyramid that the T/MC includes in this "building a network of purpose" essay. Visit this page to follow his progress on this project. Follow the work being done by interns from IIT, Adler School of Professional Psychology, National Louis University and beyond.

The T/MC ideas that are originated as sketches then converted to power point can be interpreted in many ways by students working at high schools and colleges throughout the world. Contact us if you'd like to be involved.

New Interns at CC, T/MC

2011-01-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

This graphic was the way Cho In Hee introduced herself today in the Tutor/Mentor Connection on-line Forum.

She and Jongseop Won are starting six week internships with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. They will be creating visualizations to help communicate T/MC ideas to leaders all over the world who might understand the T/MC through these presentations and reach out to support us in the ways suggested.

In addition, Joseph Kreul has also joined us this week, as part of a six month internship program sponsored by The Adler School of Professional Psychology

As each volunteer and intern goes through this service and learning loop we hope they know more about poverty and ways leaders need to provide consistent, long-term support to organizations helping kids grow up. We also hope they learn to share this with the colleges they represent, their friends and family, and with people who visit our web sites, so that more people will become involved because of what these students communicate during the time they are with us, or in the future.

You can see from this post that the service learning loop graphic was created by an intern from Hong Kong who was with us in 2007.

Happy Holidays from Cabrini Connections!

2010-12-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Click here to donate.

Give Hope this Holiday Season

2010-11-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

The graphic in this holiday appeal was created by a volunteer who lived in Indiana when she did this project for us. It illustrates how volunteers and interns from many places are helping us share ideas that support the growth of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

Each year we must find donors to support our efforts so we have a place for students, interns and volunteers to connect. Please send a donation or become a benefactor.

Please read our 2010 Holiday Appeal Letter and forward it to others who might help.

University Partnerships Wanted

2010-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Willow and Jenny were interns at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection from late June to early August, 2010. They can from China, via a program hosted by Hong Kong Baptist University.

Read the article about university partnerships written by Bradley Troast. If you would like to work with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection just email tutormentor2 at@earthlink dot net

Interns tell story in Chinese and Korean

2010-08-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

Today is the last day of a seven-week internship for Jenny and Willow, who came to us through a program with Hong Kong Baptist University. Earlier this spring, two students from Korea, via IIT, were interns.

One of the ways this year's interns have helped us is by creating videos, in Chinese and Korean, to translate our message to people who don't speak English.

Jenny/Willow Video

Chuck/Mingsang Video

Find more videos like this on Tutor/Mentor Connection

We'd like to recruit interns and volunteers with Spanish, French and German language skills, and more volunteers from Korea and China. If we can convert Tutor/Mentor Connection ideas into different languages, more people will be able to use them, and more people from different parts of the world will add their own support to creating and implementing these strategies.

Thank you Willow, Jenny, Chuck and Mingsang!

International Connections

2010-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

This photo shows interns from China and Korea who are helping Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection by sharing their time and talent with us this spring and summer.

Meet Jiwon Seo and Minsang Lee, both from Korea, and Liu Chong and Willow Yang Liuqing

Conference video created by Interns

2010-06-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

The Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference was held in Chicago on May 27 and 28, 2010. Our student interns from IIT and Korea, Minsang Lee and Jiwon Seo, took many photos. This presentation was created by Minsang Lee.

Find more videos like this on Tutor/Mentor Connection

Network Building: Role of Interns and Volunteers

2010-04-29T07:11:00.001-07:00

This blog shows how interns from many colleges and universities have been helping Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection communicate its message to people who can respond as volunteers, leaders, technology support, donors, etc., helping our organization, but also helping any other tutor/mentor program in Chicago, or in other cities.

This graphic is one that illustrates this concept, and which may be converted into an animation by a future intern.

One of our recent interns was Jordan Merlo, a student at Loyola University. She just completed a 12-week intern, which was part of a class assignment. She had to write a final paper, which is posted here on her blog.

Our goal is that hundreds, or even thousands, of students in high schools, colleges and universities all over the world are writing blog articles like Jordan's, with the same goal, and the same topic. That will draw the daily attention of millions of potential volunteers and every day, and change the flow of philanthropy from one where non profits are all seeking food (funding) like fish in a bowl, to one where people who can help (volunteers/ donors/ etc.) are searching the Internet using systems like the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator to choose what city, what zip code, then what program, they want to help.

Jordan is just one blogger you'll find on our Ning site. In addition, if you visit the Cabrini Connections blog, you'll find links to blogs written by our own staff and volunteers.

Finally, if you visit the Tutor/Mentor Connection site, you'll find a long list of bloggers that we follow, who write about learning, fund raising, collaboration, and even tutoring and mentoring.

New project - posted by Li Li, from University of Michigan

2010-03-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

This is a screen shot from a flash animation project created this week by Li Li, a graduate student from the University of Michigan. She was part of a one-week Alternative Spring Break Program.

Interns from IIT - Great Work!

2010-02-22T13:46:00.001-08:00

Eunsoo Lee (KuDo - front right in photo) and Jawon Koo (Peter - front left in photo)are finishing their final week as interns with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. They have been working to create flash animation interpretations of ideas expressed in essays on the Tutor/Mentor Connection site. This Collaboration Goals essay was what they started with. They had to learn flash when they got to our site in late January. They've done that and created these projects in less than six weeks.

You can view the projects they created on this section of the Tutor/Mentor Institute site.

Eunsoo has been keeping a blog, and he says "I hope they don't forget me." We won't. Your project will be on our web site for people from all over the world to see. You're profile will stay on the Ning site, so you can continue to stay part of Cabrini Connections from where ever you go in the world.

Peter has started a second project, which will be posted here when completed.

It's amazing how much these students can do in so short a time. It shows how students from throughout the world could be creating projects like this in an effort to help educate volunteers and donors and public leaders on where and how they could help high poverty youth get the help they need to move to jobs and careers.

If you'd like to get students from your college or high school involved, just introduce yourself on the Tutor/Mentor Connection Ning site.

The others in this photo: Front, Toni Pullen (left); Nicole White (right). Back, from left: Bradley Troast, Daniel Bassill, El Da'Sheon Nix and Mike Trakan.

Interns using visualization to help communicate ideas

2010-01-27T06:27:00.001-08:00

Below is a map created by Emily Gunn, an intern from Loyola University in Chicago, who is working with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

You can see this map, and the story Emily wrote here.

This is another project, being developed by Eunsoo Lee, an intern from Korea, by way of IIT in Chicago. Follow his work here.

This is a third project that is in development, based on the graphics in the "Collaboration Goals" pdf. Jawon Koo is working on this and you can follow his project development here.

This type of work can be done by teams of students from high schools and universities in all parts of the world. If you'd like to work with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection just introduce yourself with a post on this blog.

Learn more about Cabrini Connections

2010-01-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

Find more photos like this on Tutor/Mentor Connection

E Wilson has joined us as a second intern from Loyola University in Chicago. You can read her introduction, and follow here blog articles on our Ning site.

Intern from Loyola University Chicago

2009-12-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

Jordan Merlo is our newest intern. She's a student at Loyola University Chicago and will be writing articles about the work we do. Her goal is to learn how to be a force for social change, using the communications tools of social media.

As others read Jordan's articles, we hope some will be inspired to become volunteers and donors, while we hope others will see that they can write similar articles, and attract their own friends, family and alumni to the tutor/mentor movement.

Thank you for joining us Jordan.

2010 Interns at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection

2009-12-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years interns from various universities have worked at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, helping to create new versions of concepts that Dan Bassill, President of CC, T/MC creates as hand drawn sketches, or in Power Point graphics.

Because Dan is a "thinker" not a "designer" the talent of these students enhances the ideas, and is now beginning to convert them into animated presentations that can be viewed on T/MC web sites, or on YouTube.

In January 2010 we will have two new student interns joining from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In February we hope to have two students from the University of Michigan, as part of their week long Alternative Spring Break.

Thanks to a donation of Social Network Analysis software, and interns from Loyola University in Chicago, we also hope to be doing some new work to map the network of people and organizations who are connected by the T/MC to each other, and to our own goals and objectives. This week we'll be joined by another intern from Loyola, who will be writing some of these articles, attempting to share what we are doing with a growing network of people who help.

We could not support these interns if some volunteers did not donate dollars to help pay the rent and the expenses involved with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. If you'd like to help, just visit our TisTheSeason Holiday Fund Raising page to make your donation.

If you'd like to involve students from your high school or university, just introduce yourself or call 312-492-9614.

Spring 2009 Interns Create Animated Strategy and Resource maps

2009-07-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

From late May through early July three interns from the Illinois Institute of Technology worked at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. Shown here are Gun Woong Go and Sung Joong Kim (pictured with Toni Pullen of the T/MC). This was the fourth cycle of interns from IIT to volunteer time with Cabrini Connections in the past two years. KG and Karse's work followed up on work started in in January by Alan Yoo and Rack Hyu Shin.

This image is of a Strategy Map flash animation, created in February by Alan and Rack. They converted a concept map created by the Tutor/Mentor Connection (see here) into a flash animation, that enables visitors to drag their mouse over an image, and get information specific to that image. Between January and June the links in the strategy map had broken, so when Karse and KG began working on this project they first had to figure out how to deconstruct the original project, so they could rebuild it with new links. Then, working with Chris Warren, our 2008-09 NUPIP Fellow, they added a voice-over narration, so that when you click an image, a narrator tells you what you are seeing. This was a huge improvement to what had been started in January.

Then, KG and Karse created a second animation, this time showing the resources that the Tutor/Mentor Connection makes available through its web sites. This map points to the different sections in the T/MC Links library, while also showing the homework help section. This was the concept map that they converted.

This is pretty impressive work, and we hope that it helps visitors to our web sites find and use the resources we make available. Visit our Ning site to learn more about work that interns from Korea (via IIT and the University of Michigan) have been doing to help us help inner city kids in Chicago and beyond.

If you have a team of students interested in working with the Tutor/Mentor Connection (you don't need to be in Chicago) just contact us and let's talk of ways you can provide a learning experience, and a leadership and service opportunity, in one on-going project.

A letter to Michael Jackson

2009-07-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Michael Jackson,

I think you'll be surprised to receive a letter from a girl, who is from shanghai, China. We were growing up with your song during our childhood. It was very popular to copy your signature moonwalk on our teenage. There is no doubt that you are our king of Pop. We will remember the day- June 25th.

You were an American recording artist, entertainer and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, you made your debut on the professional music scene in 1968 as a member of The Jackson 5. You then began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group and was referred to as the "King of Pop" in subsequent years. Your 1982 album Thriller remains the world's best-selling album of all time,and four of your other solo studio albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987),Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

In the early 1980s, you became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of your music videos airing on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller"—widely credited with transforming the music video from a promotional tool into an art form—helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made you an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, you popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. Your distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists across several generations.

You're not only a King of Pop, singer,entertainer,artist……

You're a great man with love, caring, compassionate. In your whole life, you did a lot of works for charities. and many of these charities help special needs children. People mentioned you was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993. The child in this case admitted the charge was fake because of benefit after you died. I knew you felt lonely and helpless under the pressure of media attack during that time. Now, you will be peace in the heaven and last forever. We will
remember your song, your dance move, your contribution to the society and else.

Not so many people can do the one thing in his life, because people always like changing their mind. Some people still hold their belief and do one thing in their lives. Dan is one of them, who is the president of Cabrini Connections, which I worked for an intern during this summer. He contributed his whole life building up his tiny wish to help the children.

Cabrinin Connections & Tutor/mentor Connection was founded by Daniel F. Bassill. Their mission is to engage workplace adults in structured activities that make a life-changing difference for youth living in economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods. I would like to make you know there are a lot of people doing charities work for the needs children.

I think you won't feel loney in another world because we all remember you in this world.

Sincerely,

Liye

What's happiness?

2009-07-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people think money is happiness.

Sometimes they thought material things will make them happy, but the think might make them happy for a little while.

In fact, what's it really goanna bring you—one more outfit, one more mile in a new car? It's not goanna get you any closer to heaven, it's not goanna get you pure contentment in Christ. It's going to give you happiness on earth, which means nothing in the whole scheme of things.

It was the third week I worked for the Cabrini Connections, I felt sorry I didn't do a lot of specific job for them.
But I will tell my friends my president of our organization, who has been volunteering for non-profit over thirty years, still has a dream in his hand.

He wants to make more people join his team, not for Cabrini Connections, not for tutor/mentor programs, just for helping the people when they need help.

I encourage you read his blog, know his dream and join his dream.
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/

What's real happiness?

Happiness is not about being immoral nor having food or rights in one's hand. It's about having tiny wish come true.
Or having something to eat when you are hungry or having someone's love when you need love.

Happiness is very simple from real life.

why you are living for it?

2009-07-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

When I was working for my Dream Program proposal, I did some surveys for my friends who live in America and China.

I'm not surprised that not so many people still have dreams. They said the dream was a long time ago when they were children. Maybe not all of them will agree my opinion. Dream doesn't belong to your childhood; it can be your current and future.

But it is not key point.

One day, they stop dreaming because we start to lead lives of quiet desperation, and little by little the passion and energy begin to disappear from our lives.

How can you figure out this life question? I remembered I published the English Finance and Economical Magazine when I was studying my university, my parents were strongly against my childish thought. But I never gave up my dream what our country needed a good Finance and Economical Magazine open to the world as a universal language.

It was difficult to start my dream at the beginning without good staff writer and finance support. And also my English wasn't very good at that moment. I was looking for sponsor, at the same time; I had to finish my studying. No one can know how difficult it was at the beginning. I found my business partner after unremitting effort. In fact, I contributed my
all time on my dream, some people thought it was just a business. I didn't argue with you that it was part of business with your dreams.

The most powerful businesses/ideas are almost always the simple ones, which make it simple and easy that will be going very well.

Eventually, I was failed with my first dream after publishing 10 issues. Because we needed more money to run our dreams, unfortunately, our investors met some money problems. I still remembered we had to sell and move all the stuff in the office. All the stuff was depressed in their faces, I was crying at the restrooms. I never regretted making the decision then I learned from my failure. After that, I had to follow my parent's opinion and work for the company. But I never stop my dreaming, my friends were confused my decision, 'why you quit a good career and came to America?'

I had to bring the changes into my life, I needed them change my mind and enrich my view.

Thank you for your supports. I know it is a lot of difficulties in front of me. but you never know what you can do till you try.

Why you living for your life?

You have to create two worlds, one is you, and another is without you.

How can you do more things when you are in the world?

You need a life mentor in your life. Finally, you have to figure out your life by yourself, you have to find the stuff what you want to do and would like to do.

Notes from "the Dream Manager"

2009-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole week reading the books, which Dan gave to me last week.

And I want to share some notes from "the Dream Manager" before reading that.

the most powerful ideas are almost always the simple ones.

Machinery and computers are categorized as assets and people as liabilities.
the right people are an organization's greatest asset.

A company's purpose is to become the-best-version-of-itself.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

People are unique in that they have the ability to imagine a more abundant future,
to hope for that future, and to take proactive steps to create that future. This is
the process of proactive dreaming.

In many ways, we are our dreams. But people stop dreaming because they get caught
up in the hustle and bustle of surviving. And once we stop dreaming, we start to lead
lives of quiet desperation, and little by little the passion and energy begin to disappear
from our lives.

I was reading a story the other day about Henry Ford giving some guests a tour of his
factory and offices. As they passed one door, there was a man with his feet up on his
desk and his eyes closed. The guests asked Mr.Ford why he didn't seem to mind that this
man was sleeping on the job. Ford replied that he wasn't sleeping, he was dreaming.
'Doesn't that bother you?'they asked Ford. He replied,'No, He is just doing his job. You
see, that man invented the six-cylinder motor and disc brakes. His job is to dream up
things that my competitiors think are impossible.'

One of the first principles Simon taught me was that as a Dream Manager you always
have to remember that every person has different dreams, and that you cannot force
your dreams on another person. Think about how much damage is caused when parents
try to force their dreams on their children, or when one spouse tries to force his
or her dreams on the other.

Dreams bring us to life. Dreams animate us, and what dreams do for individuals, they
also do for relationships……and companies. The pursuit of dreams creates passion, energy
enthusiasm, and vitality.

"What I'm realizing is that we are all Dream Managers,"Lauren announced to the team.
Lauren was Admiral's CFO and was one of those quiet and meticulous personalities. She
continued,"If we really want to help people, we have a responsibility to help them
identify and pursue their dreams. In that way, I'm a Dream manager for my husband, for
my children, for my friends, for my colleagues here, and for people who just pass
through my life.Not in the same way Sean is a Dream Manager, but every relationship
improves when we are mindful of each other's dreams."

I didn't know it myself at the beginning, but there's a psychology to being a Dream
Manager.You have to focus on encouraging people and giving people permission to pursue
their dreams. You have to avoid judgment, and provide tools and accountability, but
you can't take responsibility for them achieving their dreams.

The employee-employer money paradigm is a thing of the past. The modern employee is looking
for things much more abstract than a simple pay raise. Sure, they want to be well compensated
but they are conscious of lifestyle, work environment, and more than ever they want work
that is engaging. So when I explain the program to other managers and business owners, their
resistance is natural, because they are operating from the old paradigm that assumes
that people come to work just to make money. To some extent it may be true, but in most
cases, people don't come to work just to make money, and the more money they make, the less
it becomes about the money.

Money is certainly a factor, and, for many, the biggest factor. Another factor is meaningful
work,but most people don't have their sights set that high. Most employees aren't that
ambitious. Many have simply given up on the possibility. For hundreds of years, the battles
between employees and employers, between owners and workers, between unions and corporations
have created an 'us versus them' mentality that is detrimental to the collaborative spirit
of teamwork needed to succeed in business.

So what else,besides money and meaningful work?

Employees want to feel appreciated. Eighty-five percent of people who leave a job leave
because of their relationship with their direct supervisor. And when you ask them about
their relationship with their supervisor, they almost inevitably say that he or she didn't
appreciate them or their contribution. The predominant concern of employees isn't money
or benefits, and it's not hours. They want to feel appreciated.

You better believe it. The Dream Manager Program is living proof that Admiral cares about
their employees. It is proof that we care about who they are and that we appreciate the
contribution they make to our enterprise. Appreciation is the strongest currency in
the corporate culture.

Our people are ordinary people, from different backgrounds, no doubt, and they have their
struggles. But people need someone to help them articulate their dreams,someone to speak
with openly about their dreams. It's simple stuff, but it really is powerful. I lie awake
at night sometimes, thinking about my employees' dreams, and I get so excited for what's
happening in their lives.

So to finish, let me just say this. We all have dreams. The earlier we start dreaming
and the more mentors and friends we have who urge us on toward our dreams, the richer
our lives become. In time, we learn to help others achieve their dreams, and so the
cycle continues. Many of the people who work for Admiral come from a background of poverty.
What I have realized over the past three or four years is that poverty is not about money.
The real poverty is the poverty of opportunities. At Admiral, we believe in dreams, and
we give people the opportunity to live their dreams!We set out to solve a very specific
problem and instead we discovered the essence of life. What's your dream, and why aren't
you living it?

Most businesses fail because they have a few rainmakers and an army of administrative
support. In any successful business, everybody has to be part of the sales force. When
everybody sells, you're destined to succeed.

BusinessWeek reports that over the next ten years, 21 percent of top management and 24
percent of middle management positions across all functions, regions, and industries will
become vacant. In the areas of unskilled labor, we all know that the statistics are much
harsher and the shortages more drastic.

But make no mistake-dreams are the currency of the future.

the greatest problems we will face in corporate America in the next twenty years all
surround the area of human resources, in particular, talent and labor. Executives will
ignore these challenges as their peril. CEOs have to become as dedicated to scounting
nurturing, and acquiring talent as football coaches are. The future of any sporting
franchise depends on the talent that takes the field. What makes you think your business
is any different?

You can ignore people's dreams, but it will be at your peril. You are free to ignore
your children's dreams, your spouse's dreams, your employees' dreams, your customers'dreams
and your nation's dreams. But in each of these areas of life, you will pay an enormous price
if you do.

Dreams are invisible, but powerful. Think for a moment of electricity. You cannot see it,
but it keeps everything going. Invisible, but powerful!If, for a moment, you doubt the
power of electricity, consider what would happen if you stuck your finger into an
electrical outlet. You would quickly be reminded of its power. Should you doubt that
electricity keeps everything going, may I suggest that you turn off the electricity
at your office tomorrow!I think you will find that little if anything gets done
and that most of your employees will go home for the day.

So it is with dreams. They are invisible, but powerful. You cannot see them, but
they keep everything going.

I have a dream

2009-07-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." From Martin Luther King, Jr.

What's America Dream?

I witnessed that Obama became the first African-America President Last November at Grant Park in Chicago.

I was proud that I was there with my best American friend-Meg, who's she lived in the Oak Park of Chicago.

Everyone came to America and hold their dream, because they thought America can make their dream possible.

"Yes, we can" said by Barack Obama from New Hampshire on Jan 2008.

People never know what they can do till they try.

Barack Obama can bring the changes to America because of their supporters. Everyone can have a dream since the dream is very little.

In many ways, we are our dreams. But people stop dreaming because they get caught up in the hustle and bustle of surviving. And once we stop dreaming, we start to lead lives of quiet desperation, and little by little the passion and energy begin to disappear from our lives.

No matter who you are, where you are from, which color and culture you have, you could never stop dreaming.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. I'll start my special program called "Dream Program" and make people achieve their dream.

And I'll post my "dream program" proposal later. If you have a dream, don't hesitate to let everyone know.

June 4 End Year Dinner

2009-07-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

I was glad to come to our organization 2009 End Year Dinner, the theme of this year was called "Hope, Build……Believe and Achieve" selected by the 2009 Cabrini Connections Year End Dinner.

Nearly 200 students, volunteers, parents and alumni were registered to attend yesterday's year end dinner in advance where they would celebrate the work of one year, and began the work of the coming year!

When I was arrived the dinner place on 1111 N Wells, Chicago, some staffs and guests were already there. They were busy with last-minutes preparation before people coming. There were bread, chicken wings, pasta, varieties of salad, chocolate cupcakes, cookies, drinking for the guests on the food table.

The batches of people were coming around 5:30pm, Toni, who was our administrative assistant, was busy with guest registration. I was standing behind her and took some pictures. The End Year Dinner started the video of look back on the history of Cabrini Connections created by the teens and volunteers who were in the 2008-09 Cabrini Connections Program. I saw most of attendances concentrated on watching the video with smiling, because most of people, who attended the dinner, took their efforts to the students and Cabrini Connections last year. There was no doubt that students became the leading role over the dinner. It made people happy with not only their singing and dancing but also their drama. I was catching the time of taking the photos of their momentary.

There was such wonderful dinner that I couldn't forget inviting my friends to come. In fact, he was my god brother in America, I was grateful for his care and help when I was in America without my family member. He said he considered joining our Tutor/Mentor Program in his spare time. My brother had two master degree in Economy and Mathemateic in Michigan State University, now he is working for Finance Analysis at Aon Insurance.

I really enjoyed the End Year Dinner, thank you for everyone, who is the staff,students,volunteers and parents, support Cabrini Connections and Tutor/Mentor Connections.

(Video Information, feel free to check on the youtube and search the key words of Cabrini Connection History)

1kg more

2009-07-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about writing something about NGO development in China since we started for a short time.

One of NGO's names came into my mind, which called 1kg more founded by Andrew Yu. I deeply knew their organization because of Sichuan Earthquake last year. We all together organized events called" Bring your hearts to Children after Sichuan Earthquake". As we all know, no one can forget the Sichuan Earthquake last year, which was killed at least 68,000 people and more than millions people became homeless. I still felt pain of the past when I was remembered a lot of scenes and memories into my mind. At that moment, hundreds of millions of Chinese people were coming together. Some of them came to Sichuan and became a volunteer; even they didn't know each other. Others donated money to the Red Cross and other international charities. The earthquake was happened in the middle of China. Some of my friends were studying and working there, they said" you couldn't image thousands of lives vanished from the world in seconds on May 12, 2008". You just saw them yesterday.

I decided to do some efforts for them. I heard more than hundreds of school buildings collapsed. Students lost their classmates, books and classrooms. Since the International Children's Day on June 1st, I posted my ideas on the internet, more than hundreds people came to our teams. Finally, we received thousands of gifts including clothes, toys, books and stationeries. More than hundreds people on the street wrote their best wishes to the children who were on the Sichuan Earthquake. After that, love was still continuing and spreading to others. For a while, I considered if I didn't come to U.S.A, I would quit my job, come to Sichuan and help them build up their new house.

I talked too much about Earthquake. Actually, I want to introduce 1kg more, which they got successful just for five years in China. It was very short time to let other people know your NGO without government support. April 18, 2004, Andrew founded 1kg(Chinese name called: Duo Bei Yi Gong Jin), a NGO that sought to build up a volunteer network of travelers to help kids in remote areas of China by delivering much needed books and school suppliers. You just carried 1kg old books, stationeries and garments to the students in un-development and poor area in China. In fact, not so many organizations like 1kg more were seen in the mainstream media in China five years ago. Today, Andrew, with many volunteers in different parts of China, manage a database of over 200 elementary school which includes information on: 1) how many students are in the school; 2) what is the kids’ primary need; 3) the school name and contact person; 4) detailed directions, including method of transportation, of how an independent traveler can reach the school. Unlike the United States and Europe, independent travel in China is very small percentage of the market.

"There are more than 400,000 elementary schools in remote villages, but less than 10% of these schools received any sort of governmental or NGO support in order to improve education quality, ” shared Andrew. During the past three years, after many 1kg trips, Andrew realized that “the original idea to encourage more and more travelers to help kids hasn’t changed". But “I have a deeper understanding of what the kids really need for education, other than books and stationery”, Said by Andrew.

There are only 3 FULL time people for 1kg.org. One is responsible for the web development, another is in charge of program administrator, and Andrew is PR and marketing. Now more and more volunteers are joining their teams, they contribute their ideas, take their efforts and make 1kg growing up better and better.

On the question of why this service model will work, Andrew compares 1kg.org with traditional NGOs in China. He believes that traditional NGOs operate as agents responsible for results, control information, and direct the work of volunteers. This process generates a lot of administration & management cost and leads to low working efficiency. It furthermore limits the creativity and initiative of the volunteers. 1kg, a grassroots NGO, has a different operating model, and is inspired by the social collaboration power of Wikipedia, encouraging knowledge creation and sharing to understanding the needs in order to help them.

When I was leaving for America, I had a chance to talk to Andrew. He said he would an ambitious objective to reach 5000 schools, cover 1 million students and collect 3 million books by the year 2012. I would give him best wishes come true his dream. More information, you can visit their website www.1kg.org (not so many english page for your reference).
Maybe I have to email them do the English page for the travellers who are out of China.

Dan, thank you for your book called "the dream manager". I will read them carefully in the rest of week. And I will post my reading experience with others.

(Some of resources above my blog was from Min Guo,who write the article about 1kg more, posted in Charity & Donations)

Time for questions

2009-07-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

I just spent the time on browsing the website.

When I started to write down my marketing proposal, I had to ask some questions.

1. What's difference between Cabrini Connections and Tutor/Mentor Connections?

I think Cabrini Connections under Tutor/Mentor Connections. If they are the same, why you keep two names?

2. Do you build up both of connections or Tutor/Mentor Connections belongs to other organizations?

3. I see your organization mission, but I still concern about your target areas, it is just in Chicago, or you want to promote the program across the America.

Current Situation:
Students Part
1. Who are your students? How many?

I know 525 low incomes, inner city teens have participated in this program since 1993. I'm not sure it is actual number for the students currently.

2. What do your students learn? What do they read/ write? How do they speak with one another?

3. How do you find your target students?

4. What is your future plan? How many students do you want to develop in the next five years or every year?

Volunteers Parts
1. Who are your volunteers?

2. How do they work for the program?

3. How many volunteers work for the program now?

Donors Parts
1. Who are your donors? How do you find them?

2. How do they donate their money through the internet or other ways?

3. Do you have some company/enterprise sponsorship?

4. Do their donation keep your finance balance (including everything expense)?

Marketing Parts
1. Do you have marketing person work for the organization?

2. What do they do?

3. What is the prospect for them?

Future Parts
1. What is your goal in the next five years?

I really want to help you make your organization better and better. I feel sorry some of questions are more agressive.
Though I am an intern for the company, but I still want to contribute my efforts to you.

Finally, I use my country's proverb "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat".

Tutor/Mentor Leadership & Networking Conference on May 28&29th

2009-07-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

I was honored to be invited to the leadership conference organized by Cabrini Connections on the first working day.

I with another two interns KG & Karse from South Korea was helping the staff collecting some conference files before Thursday. Dan was showing me related links with introduction of this conference. I already knew what was going on between Thursday and Friday.

We had to arrive in the conference earlier than working days around 8:30am. The conference was located the downtown Northwestern University Law School, which I dreamed of studying there one day. The place was such wonderful as hold the conference. You could see the beautiful Lake Michigan from the windows. The weather was so nice during two days.

When I was arrived there, I already saw some staffs were busy with some preparations before guests came in. I was told to be a photographer during the conference, and upload the photos to our website.

The conference schedule was very informative, which was a good way to know the tutor/mentor program in America. When I talked to the people who took part in the conference, they were not only from Chicago, but also from other states in America. The reason was why they came to the conference, because they wanted to know more about updating information of program and took advantage of meeting new people who did the same thing in America. I was surprised to see a lot of people enrich the tutor/mentor program in America. In my home country-China, we called Hope Program.

As the organizer of this conference, Cabrini Connections took a lot of efforts. They arranged varieties of workshops for different participants demands. And also they invited good speakers to share their experiences during the opening and lunch time. I thought it was very valuable and worth going there.

Some speakers impressed me that was Jeffrey Fields and Thomas M. Donnelly. And I learned a lot from the workshops.
Like I know the Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth's (LAH) can encourage one-on-one, long term tutor/mentor relationships and to support the work of tutor/mentor programs by awarding grants, recruiting volunteers, and promoting best practices. Since January 2008, LAH has awarded $200,000 annually to exemplary tutor/mentor programs. With this recent increase in the excess of $800,000 to programs serving disadvantaged youth, more details you want to know LAH, please visit their website www.lawyerslendhand.org

Liz Livingston Howard, who was the professor of Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management in the Northwestern University, was introducing the current Nonprofit Environment, and shared her management experience on nonprofit how to improve the donor/member/customer.

Eric Davis, who was the founder of the Global Citizen Experience, told us to build community engagement: A global model with local foundations. His workshop looked like a panel discussion and leaded us to figure out what your nonprofit organization goal is.

I was very tired to acquire a lot of knowledge from two-days, but I felt very excited to take part in this leadership and networking conference. Cabrini Connections was doing a great job for the conference and gave me a chance to participate in it.

Now I have to start thinking about what will I do and how can I enrich my internship……

My first day of Cabrini Connections

2009-05-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

My first day started a little nervous in the morning. Because it is my first time to work for the America company in U.S.
In fact, I already had two-years working experience in Shanghai, which specialized in media industry. But I am still looking for working for different sectors and full fill my life.

Dan,who is the president of Cabrini Connections ask me to introduce myself. I just want to let other staff know their new members. My name is Liye Lin, who was born in the east of China-a very beautiful city called Shanghai.
In the future, I'll post my hometown pictures and make your guys know more about my country and culture,especially for the people. I completed my undergraduate degree in Business English at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After then, I worked for western company, which published English Finance Magazine called Shanghai Business Review. I was doing the accounting,circulation and company marketing strategy. One day, I was thinking about my life and wanted to start my new career.

Now I was there almost nine months. I'm glad to make a right decision and study at IIT, Chicago. Both of them are more interesting in my life. And also I meet a lot of friends from different countries there. We exchange the culture and mind. language is not a barrier between us, which become an universal.

I really want to learn and do some stuffs for my internship. Tomorrow I'll go to the conference organized by my internship organization at the law school of Northwestern University. It is so exciting to meet new people and talk to them.

Hope everyone knows me and I'll try to update my blog very often. If anyone is interested in my country and culture,feel free to ask me.

University of Michigan School of Information Alternative Spring Break

2009-02-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

This year Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection will have three graduate students from the University of Michigan's School of Information spending their spring break, starting Monday Feb. 23, with our organization in Chicago.

The students are Garima Garg and Malhar Gupta, who come from India, and Taeho Ko, who comes from Korea. You can meet these students on our Tutor/Mentor Connection page at Ning.Com.

These students will either work on projects started by other interns, or develop new projects, intended to help build better understanding and application of the ideas expressed on the Tutor/Mentor Institute web site.

We currently have two interns, also from Korea, who come to us from a program at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. View the projects they are working on in this ning group.

This illustrates our goal of enlisting students, faculty and alumni from many parts of the world who will use their time and talent to help build an infrastructure of support for volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, and in their own communities.

Contact the T/MC if you'd like to get involved.

New Interns from Korea

2009-01-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

We have two new interns at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. They will be working on some of our communications projects, and helping build participation in a Cabrini Connections ning forum. Meet Alan Yoo and Rack Hyu Shin.

This is their first day so they are just getting familiar with our organization. Visit their profiles often in the next few weeks and learn with them as they grow in their roles. Alan and Rack are here as part of a program sponsored by Illinois Institute of Technology.

Interns at Cabrini Connections

2008-07-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

This blog was started three years ago, by Michael Tam, a student from Hong Kong Baptist University, who spend the summer of 2006 as an Intern at Cabrini Connections. In 2007 Paul Wei (shown at our July 2007 Golf Benefit) continued the blog.

This summer we do not have an intern from Hong Kong Baptist University, but we have had interns from Korea, Brazil, Indiana University and the University of Michigan work with us in the past year.

Below is a list of projects being done by current and former student interns, and volunteers, to support Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection:

Conference Video by June 2008 Korean Interns - flash presentation

Dinner Video by June 2008 Korean Interns - flash presentation

Web quests developed by January 2008 Korea Interns, here and here

Service learning presentation Paul Wei created in 2007 - flash.presentation

Visualization of Tutor/Mentor Strategy done in April 2008 by Indiana University students - Visualization

Interview by our Brazil intern - here

You can review a documentation system web page built by a volunteer in Baltimore, using workers from India, here

You can review a map gallery hosted by a volunteer from Wisconsin, here

And, you can review a Business School Connection vision, posted on a wiki by a Graduate Student from the University of Chicago School of Business at this link.

Meet our Korean interns at http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/groups

These all represent efforts by Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection to mobile talent from people in Chicago, and throughout the world, who will help gather and share information, create advertising and on-line education, and innovate other solutions that increase the number of people involved in helping youth living in poverty connect with on-going, volunteer-based adult support systems that expand the network of adults and learning opportunities intended to help these young people move through school and into jobs and careers.

If you are looking for an intern opportunity, or a PhD topic, or are teaching media and communications at a middle school, high school, college or business, and are looking for a real world application for your teaching and learning, consider working with the Tutor/Mentor Connection and apply what you learn to help us in Chicago, and to help youth in the city and country where you live.

Join us at http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/ or http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/

2008

2008-02-24T00:46:00.000-08:00

I am in Hong Kong now and I just enjoyed the Chinese new year(Feb. 7th) with my family in Shanghai.

This lunar new year has been a very special one. Many areas in mainland China suffered from snowstorm, and it had turned to be the most serious one in the past 50 years. Supplies and facilities were damaged, and hundreds of thousand people heading for home for the festival were stuck in train stations in some cities.

I will graduate in one year and start my career soon. The experience with tutor/mentor connection is very helpful to me. I am glad to know that another intern from HK Baptist Univerisity will go to T/MC this summer.

I also checked the two web quests made by the interns from Korea. Personally I like the South Korea Webquest more because it offers an great opportunity to the students to touch eastern culture. It can help them establish a global view. It is very wise to have international interns from time to time working with TM/C.

- by Paul

In Hong Kong

2007-11-08T00:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a while that I haven't made post here. Life in the past 2 months was so busy. Assignments and projects just kept coming and I didn't had enough time to see to the flash I worked on. But the semester will end in 3 weeks and there will be some free time after that.

I think the universities in Hong Kong should give students more time to allocate. It is not good for us to spend all day in dealing with the assignments and miss some opportunities of developing in different areas. Actually I heard that some of the universities in HK have planned to extend their 3-year undergraduate courses to 4-year in 2012. I think this is a good news for the freshman in high schools.

The children in Hong Kong are taken good care of but Hong Kong has its own problems. One is, eople here have high pressure from different aspects and the suicide rate, whch is 17.5/100,0000 (2003), is much higher than the average rate of the world(14.5 in 2000) discovered by World Health Organization.

As I expected, I think I really miss the time I had and the nice people I met in the US. I remember them as if the vivid scenes are just in front of me.

--by Paul

Arrived HK

2007-09-02T21:27:00.001-07:00

I arrived Hong Kong on Sept. 1st and settled down in my new room.
During the 15 days I vsited Washington DC, NYC, Orlando and LA. The trip was really amazing but it also made me exhausted. After that I flew back to Shanghai to be with my family and stayed for 5 days.
The time I had in the US was so valuable to me and it will have influence on my future life. I will miss all the nice people I met there.
Now I am looking forward to the new semester in my university.
I will discuss with Dan on the flash presentation and continue on it.

Last day

2007-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is the last day of my internship in Tutor/Mentor Connection. Tomorrow I will fly to Washington to begin a series of trips around the United States.

I have really been having good times here. Yesterday, the colleagues held a very nice lunch for me. It did surprised me that they gave me many meaningful things as gifts. I don't even have had such a good lunch for birthday in the past years! They are very nice persons and I am really happy being with them.

The flash is not 100% completed but it is time to let you have a look at what I have been working on.

click here to view it

There is still a lot of work to do on it as Dan has more ideas to make it better, so I will keep on working on it after the vacation. In addition, I have added another flash presentation of the "No General Goes to War w/o a Map" to the Tutor/Mentor Exchange Institute.

At last, Thank you all for being with me and helping me with everything. I don't want to make it sentimental because this is not an end, and the connections will go on.

Last week

2007-08-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

It is August 7th and this is the last week I am in Chicago. It is just like what Michael said - Time flies.

I have been working on the flash animation since last post. I feel like that I am learning a new skill along with working on it and this is very encouraging to me. I always like leaning new things. Let me show you the current progress.

The little figure attached to the track moves along the track and it is just a loop. The 4 colors indicate the 4 diferent phases in the service learning process which is boosted by Tutor/Mentor connection. What I am looking forward to do is to add some interactive things like buttons to make it more user-friendly and easy to understand.

BTW, the idea of "track" to demonstrate the concept was brought up by Dan. He said the idea came up to him when he watched kids playing video games. This is really interesting that we can extract some creative ideas from daily life to help what we are working on.

If anyone of you happen to have some good idea on it, please tell me!

This is not the last post I make here. I will let you know more if I finish the flash later in this week, and I will keep updating after I leave Chicago.

- Paul WEI

No business no gain (3)

2007-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

On thursday, I went to the golf tournament at highland park country club with the colleagues and some kids. I don't have a younger sister/brother or else like a nephew in Shanghai or Hong Kong, so I had little experience communicating with kids, but this time I spent most of the day with the kids around the field with the golf carts. I had a lot of fun with the kids and they were so energetic.

After the golf game, a silent auction was held along with the dinner. This was the first time I heard of silent auction and I was just there. Dan and other colleagues introduced a lot about the program and everything during the talks with the business men and the speech they delivered. The kids had also given good speeches one by one and Marcus, who was the youngest among them, was a little bit shy, but I think he is a good boy and with cabrini connections he will be a good man in the future.

Last week was really a fulfilled week. I met many nice people from different areas and shared many ideas with them.

What I am working on now is a flash animation simulating the concept of concept of the role of Tutor/Mentor Connection. It is really challenging as I need to find a good way to explain the concept to new comers and this is actually the first time I learn to use Adobe Flash to create animation. I used to ask my friends to handle the flash editing tasks needed to decorate my websites, so this is a good opportunity for me to learn to make flash animations myself. The picture below shows the rough looking of the current progress.

Hope that I can finally make it.

No business no gain (2)

2007-07-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

Second day, we went to navy pier after a series of activities at Cabrini Connections. The kids got on ferris wheel but when they got off, some of the kids said it was just OK. The Shanghai Circus was giving performance those days, and I heard some Chinese music play around ferris wheel, so I thought they might be doing rehearsal in the closed theatre beside ferris wheel. It was really good to find something familiar to me in a place oceans away from my hometown.

After that, we walked to Museum of Contemporary Art and took a 20-minute appreciation of the art works there. The art works there were very creative and some of them were even cynical but meaningful.

I like to think about different questions. Education is a hot topic in my mind, because I will be a parent when it just comes to me. Based on my being-a-child memory, I am always trying to figur out questions like what could make a child grow in a positive way, what are important to gain a good upbringing etc.

I think the appreciation of art plays a very important role in influencing a kid's character and talent. The image he or she see will always remain in his or her brain and keep a potential effect. It is really good to offer the kids more opportunities to get in touch with art.

In Mainland China, there is a more and more common trend that parents and schools have given too high priority to acadamic score. Some of them care nothing but the scores their kids get from acadamic examinations and have ignored many other important or even critical qualities which the kids are supposed to have. Every year, the news report that a few students in some of the top universities around the country commit suicide. A few years ago, a student in Sichuan University(a very famous one in China) killed his four roommates with a hammer in campus and this made all people in China shocked and force us to think about what's going on in our education system.

Another problem in our education system is about poverty. Many kids in some remote areas get inadequet education resources. Although our law claims a 9-year compulsory education for every kid, some families are just too poor to afford it. The government does have spent a lot effort and resources to help the kids in poverty, but many other problems, like corruption etc., seem to have a greater resistance. The philanthropy in China is also still in period of developing. It has been slowly filtering into people's minds but it still needs a long way to go.

It seems that I have been a bit "critical" and put many problems on table to show, but it is just the reality people have to face. There is no possibility to solve it until we are brave enough to face it.

I am glad to see that some of my friends have gone to Cambodia to help the kids there against the diseases and poverty and they have introduced many experiences they had on their blogs. This is how internet can help us learn where the people need help and what they need and this is internatinal.

Later I will introduce some more on this.

--Paul

No business no gain (1)

2007-07-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since last update. Last week I made a great 3-day direct interact with the kids by participating the activities led by the students and teachers from Edgewood College. The 3 days made last week really exhausting but meaningful.

First day, we had a long trip in downtown. We were divided into groups with the kids and worked on some tasks like finding out the average number of french fries in MC Donald or the names of 3 churches we came to. When I was a little boy, my school didn't even have such kind of activities. The funniest activities organized by my school were like just a simple trip to a zoo or a museum.

We also went to the Tribune Freedom Museum. I was a bit confused when I came to the name of the museum. The concept of freedom is a very abstract idea in my country. Common people never talk about it, and when the right of freedom is violated, people don't even notice it. It just seems like the word "freedom" mostly appear in peoms or fictions. I was wondering how a museum would exhibit a intangible concept like freedom, but after I went through the museum, I did gain a new understanding of how Americans care about freedom. According to the previous experience and the materials I read, I think the government of my country has not done a satisfying job on appreciating the right of freedom on some affairs. There may be some difficulties due to objective conditions, but something could have been better if they thought more about it.

This is just a part of what I went through last week. I will post more later.

PS. I have added the blog of Nicole, who is a graduate from Northwestern University and also a new intern in Cabrini Connection, to the links section on the right side, and as Dan mentioned in his comment on Michael's post, another tutor/mentor blog created by John Jenkins is added as well.

Transformation

2007-07-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hello, I am Paul WEI, the new intern in TM/C from Hong Kong baptist university, and since this post - the first post I make here - I have changed the blog's name from "Michael's blog" to "Interns from HK - created by Michael". Dan, Michael, and I hope to make this blog a place connecting the alumni with TM/C.

It has been 2 weeks since I came to TM/C and I do have been learning a lot here just like Michael did. I also spent nearly a week on understanding what TM/C is contributing to and how it works, and I still keep gaining more understanding through the jobs i work on and discussions i have with Dan. He has many solid ideas on what TM/C is doing. I really appreciate it that he is willing to share these valueble ideas with me very often.

BTW, here is the link of the concept map i worked on last week:
Homework Help Links
Hope that it can help people, especially the kids, find what they need in the sea of information.

I will keep on updating here.

-Paul

Internship again

2006-10-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Life is busy since the beginning of the semester. I just went to the newly-designed homepage of the T/MC. It looks better than the previous one. I like the design very much. Also, I registered again in order to login successfully.

I prepare my honor project and finding jobs. On the other hand, I participate in an internship program organized by my department. It is one of the requirements and assessment criteria of the course. I serve as an part-time intern in an environmental protection organization from September to November. My job duty is to conduct a research related to the side- effects of reclamation and use the result to prepare one set of exhibition boards for the organization to display in primary and secondary schools.

I will keep you all posted.

Report

2006-09-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

I notice there are great changes in the T/MC website. I feel sorry to hear that the platform of the site needs to be rebuilt. I hope that everything will be fine.

On the other hand, after returning to Hong Kong, my university asked all interns to submit a written report together with several photos taken in the office and attractions regarding life and working experience in Chicago. It is estimated that the university will publish all reports in November for promoting next year’s internship program.

I will keep you all posted.

Review

2006-08-29T01:32:00.000-07:00

Time flies! I left Chicago for several weeks. The new semester will begin on 4 September. It begins my busy life again. I register the subjects that I will take in the coming semester recently.

I keep on watching the website of the Tutor Mentor Connection and Dan's blog. I review my job duties after coming to Hong Kong. I serve as an on- line learning, collaboration and communications intern. Using different forms of Internet collaboration to make peoples around the world understand the Tutor Mentor Connection and connect all volunteers is the strategy that I use. For example, I use this blog to share my understanding of the T/MC concepts and use the T/MC forum to encourage more people to participate in the discussion. I hope I will have the chance to meet the next intern to exchange our experience and ideas by using different kinds of Internet collaboration that I mentioned.

I'm now in H.K.

2006-08-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. After fifteen-hour flight, I am now in Hong Kong. I miss Chicago very much. It is surely an unforgettable experience to me. Though I am not living in Chicago, I can still work for the Tutor Mentor Connection and keep in touch with you all by using Internet. It shows the magic of Internet, which eliminates the geographic barrier between two places.

After telling my relatives and friends about my job duties and the concept of the T/MC, they think that I had a meaningful experience in Chicago. Daniel’s teachings broaden my horizon. I still remember his teachings, which are important to my life.

I will try to find some suitable resources for the T/MC website and keep you all posted.

Volunteers Recruitment & Advertising Skills

2006-08-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Before coming to Chicago, I did not think that I would learn so many new things in my internship. Universities told me that my job duty is to do research by using Internet for a community service organization. After working in the T/MC, I find that I learn some advertising skills and strategies. They are all important to small organizations without too much money.

Some institutions can be employed as our strategies for advertising and achieving T/MC’s mission. University is an example. It nurtures a huge amount of talents each year. Students can use their knowledge to help the kids academically. In fact, our community provides the best place for hands-on learning. Structured community service experiences provide students an opportunity to learn about community needs and enhance their commitment to their community, while developing leadership skills at the same time. Therefore, university and the T/MC can cooperate with each other for the volunteer program. It is beneficial to both institutions.

Apart from volunteer recruitment, our advertising strategy can be achieved by giving students a talk or a series of lectures so that they can understand the T/MC’s concepts. We should make them know such concept can apply to other fields like business and schools.

Hospital is another targeted institution. It plays an important role in a community and assisting our program. Hospitals represent love and care. Their goal is similar to us. In fact, they can help teaching the youths the health knowledge. Recruiting interns for the teens in order to let them exposed to different working environments and lower the cost of the hospitals. Moreover, it lightens our financial burden by sharing their resources

I have been tried my best to share my understanding of the T/MC concepts and advertising strategies with you all in this blog. Potential volunteers and donors can read more at the following website.
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/Partner/CC/Presentations/CC_presentations_home_page2.htm
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to Daniel and colleagues for providing a chance for me to be an intern and give me lots of assistance respectively.

Summary

2006-08-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Time flies! It is my last week in Chicago. I have been working in the Tutor Mentor Connection for seven weeks. It’s the right time for me to summarize the experience that I gained during the journey.

It is a valuable and meaningful experience to me indeed. All the things that I learnt here are new to me. It makes me feel satisfied after the journey. I still remember that I have difficulties in understanding the concepts behind the T/MC at the first week of the internship. It is good that Daniel and other colleagues give me lots of help in overcoming that problem.

After several discussions with Dan, I realize such idea is lacking in Hong Kong. I think the thought cannot be rooted because the citizens rely on different kinds of pension and the current social security system very much. The adverse effect is that it increases government’s financial burden. More importantly, it does not mean that these measures can solve the fundamental social problems in the city. Being a business city, most Hong Kong people can access to the Internet easily. In addition to this, the community services can be supported by the business sector financially. There is a huge amount of social workers graduated from universities each year, which provide sufficient workforce in community services. Therefore, the concept of T/MC can be introduced and applied to Hong Kong.

T/MC devotes to cooperating with other related organizations to discuss strategies for solving the common social problems that we are facing now. The organization also believes education saves children from going astray. It further reveals that more volunteers are needed. I hope there will be more interns or volunteers coming from different countries, professions and disciplines. It is hoped that they help spreading the concept within their network.

Network

2006-07-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

Traditional community service organizations take care of the problems in their own community or nation. Cooperation was lacking. The result is just as Daniel said, “every program does their own thing”. The limited resources thus cannot be utilized effectively. It is difficult for us to solve some serious and common problems like poverty if we continue to arrange our programs in this pattern.

We can use Internet for mentoring, advertising and discussion. Discussion means volunteers, who have different backgrounds, can participate in the discussion. They can use their professional knowledge to give some strategies for advertising and “e-mentoring”. Such brainstorming acts as a useful tool to further improve our existing program and enhance our cooperation without any constraints.

On the other hand, people may not understand the idea of tutoring and mentoring. Volunteers, who are serving in different professions, can help explaining this idea within their network. It just like priests went to places around the world for preaching. The difference is we use Internet and our own network to “preach” such idea.

Advertising and Marketing

2006-07-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

The three-day self-awareness workshop has been finished last week. There were lots of activities organized for students. Activities include sharing, games and so on. After the workshop, I understand much more about the operation of the T/MC. Also, I strongly feel that volunteers’ commitment to the program and it is essential to the development of the program. Therefore, the recruitment of volunteers is one of the prerequisite for the success of the program.

Traditionally, advertising confines to television and press. It is believed that they are the most effective way for promotion. Advertising is one of the main parts of any marketing program. College programs in marketing, such as those found on this college marketing degree site routinely cover the benefits of advertising. A majority of careers in marketing will also have a heavy involvement with advertising. However, they are expensive and not economical to small-scaled organizations. In order to attract more people to be involved in the T/MC and understand its concept, Internet is a useful tool for mentoring that I mentioned last time and advertising. Internet provides another channel for those organizations, which have little money but want to promote their services or products.

Blogs, forums are some tools, which can be utilized by us to promote our program. In addition to this, we can exchange our ideas regarding the tutoring and mentoring program so as to enhance our understanding and the quality of our community services.

Idea

2006-07-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Before going to Chicago, I think community services confine to paying visits to the needy’s home, organizing some activities for the aged and poor children only. It is difficult to imagine that Internet can be one of the methods to help the needy.

Traditionally, interaction between tutor/mentor and students operates on a face-to-face basis. With the invention of Internet, charities should grasp the gist of such trend, because teenagers interested in it and it provides an opportunity for the charities to expend their services in a larger scale because Internet was an effective and flexible tool that it does not restricted by time and geographical differences. It signifies that more people can be benefited. Moreover, discussion forum on the Internet makes T/MC formed another community or family where friendships were built.

I think the T/MC works best if more former students or alumni can be tutors or mentors to teach the new generation upon graduation. The alumni, who share the same background with our students, can share their learning and working experience.

Reflection

2006-07-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Michael. I have been working here for three weeks. I enjoy my life and cherish my experience in Chicago. Being encouraged by Daniel, I started writing journal weekly, reflecting my experience and feeling when I am working in the T/MC. I think it is a good way to provide a channel for us to share our ideas, views on the programe.

Learning the concept of the T/MC is the first thing that I have to do before starting my job. They are new to me. With the help of Daniel and Ariane, I understand more about the operation of the program after reading “Be a volunteer” at http://www.cabriniconnections.net/beavolunteer.html. It presented how to be a volunteer in a systematic way. All potential volunteers are cordially encouraged to read this first before participation. U all can go to FAQ section for understanding more about our programme.

There are some differences between the situation of Hong Kong and Chicago. Most of the community services provided by charities are very much depended on government’s support. After discussing with Daniel, I understand T/MC helps to relieve the burden of the government and the poor by recruiting volunteers to help those who need help. I think it is our responsibility to share their burdens and this concept can be applied to Hong Kong in a large scale where community services are still lacking.

To ensure the integrity of the system, I check the links in the LINKS section are workable. Also, I prepare to help to add links and update the information in the Program Locator.
I feel happy as I know what I am doing is meaningful. As there will be more students to come to join our programme, we need more volunteers to join us. We appreciate your help.