In previous semesters with CODES, the principle that felt most relevant to me was “appealing to identity and values.” While mentoring , I realized how important it was to create meaningful connections by aligning with their experiences and values. Although it could sometimes be hard to foster those connections since there could sometimes be a disconnect. Teens tend to engage more with mentors who they feel truly understand them, and this alignment helped build trust. Our goal while mentoring was to break them out of there shells and place them with mentors that would challenege them and I feel like we met our goal.

Now, as I continue with CODES , the principle of “telling compelling stories” seems most applicable. In this class (CODE 320) I plan to tell an inspiring story to encouarge others to mentor. Digital outreach requires captivating narratives to hold attention and emotionally engage the audience. So I hope that telling my story and those of other mentors will help encourge people to mentor.