This past week marks the beginning of my summer working as a Youth Mentor for the IRC. Initially, I planned on working with the IRC as a Medical Advocate, however, their program become closed to exclusively FSU Medical School students. Fortunately, I have a deep love for mentoring that stems from having a surplus of influenctial role models in my own life, which made the quick turn around very easy.
After completing orientations, meetings, and background checks, I was finally informed that I had been paired with my new mentee! Her name is Kateryna, and she is a 12-year-old girl from Ukraine.
Our first meeting was set up for this Friday. Kateryna, Tiffany (the IRC coordinator) and I met at TCC to go over mentorship expectations and have first introductions. I also met Kat’s mother and her little sister, Elena, who wore the cutest American flag pants. I was astounded by Kat’s english speaking ability and also her high level of maturity for someone so young. She told me that in Ukraine she loved to watch movies with her friends, so we made a plan to go to the movies here in Tallahassee for our first hang out.
Today, I picked Kateryna up from her family’s apartment and we embarked on the 15 minute drive to AMC Theater’s to watch Spiderman Across the Spiderverse. Kat and I got to know each other pretty well on the drive there. She told me that she’s fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she loves to draw, her favorite place she’s traveled to is Thailand (although she hated the food), her favorite movie is Scream 3, and she loves Rip Ride Rocket in Universal. We rated each of the trailers before the film started and wholeheartedly agreed to come back when Trolls 2 came out. We also both LOVED Spiderman, she gave it an 11/10.
Vik is truly an inspiring young girl. She has a quiet confidence and an amazing mind. I hope that we can continue to teach each other about our different cultures and that I can be a comforting figure for her in the United States. I’m so excited to get closer with her this summer!!
*Kateryna/Kat and Elena are pseudonyms to protect the anonymity of the person.
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