| Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes Recognized at the National Mentoring Summit
Dean Foote, Jr., a 7th grader at Parshall Middle School in Parshall, North Dakota and his mentor Coby Rabbithead, Director of Program Services at the Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes, were invited to attend the event as keynote guests by the First Lady at the 2011 National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC on January 25. They served as representatives for Boys & Girls Clubs of America mentoring programs nationwide. Foote is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes – the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. He is highly involved with the Boys & Girls Club, participates on several sports teams, and serves on the N.A.T.I.V.E. Youth Council and Torch Club. Rabbithead is very engaged with the youth in her community and has served as a mentor for over four years. She mentors Foote at the Boys & Girls Club and coaches his youth basketball team. Foote and Rabbithead also addressed the summit participants on their mentoring experience in a special session coordinated by FirstPic, Inc., on behalf of OJJDP, on mentoring initiatives in Indian Country.
During the keynote session, Foote and Rabbithead joined the First Lady on stage as she spoke to a room of nearly 500 mentoring advocates, mentor-mentee pairs, and corporate executives. First Lady Michelle Obama inspired the group with her message on the importance of mentoring, and a prestigious panel of several Cabinet members shared their own mentoring experiences."Having a mentor is more important than ever before. And that's because, in many ways, being a kid today is tougher than ever before. And then when you add in the age-old struggles of just plain old growing up – the anxiety, the confusion, the academic and the social pressure – you've got an entire generation of young people truly in desperate need of a friend, someone they can trust, an example they can follow. And that's where all of you come in," she said.
Following the First Lady's address, a lively panel discussion was held consisting of the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service Patrick Corvington, and Chief of Staff of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Mike Strautmanis, moderated by Special Assistant to President Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois.
Foote and Rabbithead were honored to represent the Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes and mentors and mentees across the country. They plan to share their experience with others in their community and continue their mentoring relationship for years to come.
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