Meet our Community with Joyce Chase

Joyce, right, and her mentee, Paddee My CfY experience has allowed me to meet Seattle’s youth and learn about their challenges and interests.  I love having fun with young people and building lasting relationships with them. I have a lot of favorite memories of being involved with CfY. I love seeing the self-confidence of several …

Meet the Family Group – Polina Carlson

Polina’s Family Group, Avengers Assemble! The family group component demonstrates and builds the commitment to the CfY community. It is through the relationships that are often developed in the family group, that the community grows closer and bonds between students and mentors are fostered. Our family group really enjoys activities where we can all participate …

Meet the Family Group – Kaitlin Sytsma

Kaitlin’s (center) Family Group Meet the Family Group! This new feature focuses on one of the most unique aspects of the CfY Program. In addition to the 1:1 student/mentor match, there are 5-7 pairs of matches in each Family Group. This week, Kaitlin, a Family Group Lead in our Emerald Learning Community, shares her views …

Meet Our Community with Svend

Svend, CfY Student Through this program, I’ve learned that you can only begin to understand someone’s perspective when they actually share it with you and that it is foolish to extend judgment onto another person without adequate knowledge of that perspective. This reservation of judgment will absolutely have practical applications, as too often most people …

Meet the Team: Elizabeth Thompson

Elizabeth Thompson, Data and Communication Administrator Elizabeth Thompson is a down-to-earth Midwesterner, originally from Flint, MI. Before moving to the beautiful city of Seattle, Elizabeth earned her Master’s Degree in Arts Administration and started a position in the Education Department at Seattle Opera shortly after graduation. After that position, Elizabeth moved on to become the …

Meet the Team: Stephen Song

Stephen Song, Director of Programs Stephen Song has a deep personal and professional passion for social justice-centered youth development and college-access work. Stephen’s background in this field came first as an “at-risk” young person himself, then as a volunteer tutor and mentor, a researcher, and now is thrilled to continue this path as a CfY …