Samantha Grayson, SOHO Mentor 2008

Mentoring with SOHO is extremely fun and rewarding. While honing our creative skills and creating beautiful art projects together, my mentee Annie and I developed a strong friendship that continues though the official SOHO program for 2008 has concluded.

SOHO brings together a diverse group of girls and women in sisterhood. The open and accepting atmosphere enables us all to feel supported in a network of people we can trust. This is particularly important for the girls at such an impressionable age.

I highly recommend becoming a mentor with SOHO to anyone looking for a meaningful connection with other wonderful ladies of all ages.

Stephanie Vides

Hello y hola! My name is Stephanie Vides and I attend middle school in Alexandria, Virginia.

What makes the SOHO program the most special, is that each girl gets her own mentor to do things with. My mentor, Cassandra, got me a volunteer job at her work.

We all take art classes together with wonderful teachers and make mask replicas of our faces, design hope chests, YA-YA chairs, lamps, and floor cloths.
We also get help with our homework, eat nutritious foods and learn how to deal with peer pressure, handle anger, and the risks of having sex at a young age.

Why do you think every girl wants to be in SOHO? At the end of the program each girl gets her own bedroom remodeled beautifully with lots of donations and a $250 budget for the things she needs.

SOHO helped me a lot, to get back on track with school, and at home. Now I go to school every day.

I can honestly say that I am saying this from the bottom of my heart. Alexandria may be small, but does a lot of big things to help ordinary young girls improve their lives.

Each mentor receives training using a national best practice mentor-training curriculum from the National Mentoring Partnership (2005) and specific training to address needs of at-risk girls in Alexandria. The one-year mentoring commitment is tracked with support such as quarterly follow-up group activities that range from camping trips to bowling to dinners. It is a lot of work, but well worth it!

Amy Cable, a middle school teacher and mentor to "Juju", shares her insights: "The most amazing part about the program is that it does such a complete job at meeting the social and emotional needs of these girls. I joined SOHO because I wanted to build life long relationships and experiences as a mentor. Juju started off as a girl with an unusually poor attitude, not just at school but also at SOHO. I agreed to work with her because I knew no other mentor wanted to work with her. Yet part of me was not thrilled with the idea of working with this girl who had a major attitude. Once SOHO started, I realized that underneath the hostility was a truly artistic girl who just needed to be provided with an outlet before she could start blossoming. The art allowed her to open up and express her feelings. As her artwork progressed, she started to believe in herself and her talents. Her nasty attitude was gone in part because she started to believe in the power of herself through her artwork versus getting power through being nasty. Her teachers at school confided in me that they had difficulty tolerating Juju because she was so caustic. Yet during and after SOHO, teachers all noted a change in her attitude. Juju started smiling more and even making jokes with teachers. More importantly, she started listening to teachers. Juju leaned much about herself and her abilities through her experience at SOHO. What she learned are things you just can't teach during school days."

Juju was actually smiling and making jokes with teachers, and more importantly, she was listening to teachers, instead of her pre-SOHO days when she would just stare off into space with a scowl on her face. Juju learned so much about herself and her abilities through her experience at SOHO. What she learned are things that you just can't teach during school hours. Juju describes her mentor, Amy as, very nice and helpful and says she enjoys hanging out with her, going to her house and cooking together. SOHO made me be creative and helped us (girls) to think positive things about ourselves. Working on art projects makes her feel peaceful and calm. At home, when the house is hectic and Juju finds herself in a bad mood, she now retreats to her gorgeous new bedroom and draws.

Juju describes her mentor, Amy, as very nice and helpful. Juju enjoys hanging out with Amy, going to her house and learning how to cook. She says, "SOHO made me be creative and helped (us girls) to think positive things about ourselves. Juju says that working on art projects makes her feel peaceful and calm. At home, when the house is hectic and Juju finds herself in a bad mood, she now retreats to her gorgeous new bedroom and draws.

Lesley Harris

I was a mentor during the 2006/2007 school year.  I discovered SOHO through their website.  I had volunteered in the past in various capacities, but this opportunity really spoke to me.  Though I have a full time job in the business sector; part-time I am an artist.  I thought this sounded like the perfect match for me to bring together my passion for art with philanthropy.

The mentoring program offers girls from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to express themselves through art.  It offers them many creative outlets that they don’t ordinarily have at home or unfortunately in school anymore.  With the help of talented art instructors, the girls, along with the mentors, learned many interesting skills and produced many great projects.  Speaking personally, I learned a lot of great techniques!  You could see many of the girls really blossoming over the months as they got in touch with their creative sides.  By learning to interact with many diverse volunteers and being encouraged to express themselves they become more self assured.  It didn’t matter if they were great at what they did, but it did matter that they tried their best.  Developing positive traits to turn out positive young women is part of what the program is all about. 

There is much work to be done and the more you help the more you see that needs to be done.  So while I continue my mentoring relationship, I plan to help with SOHO in the 2007/2008 year by being a volunteer art teacher.  Hopefully, some of my skills will be helpful to a new set of girls and mentors.

Jennifer Tutuska

I first heard of SOHO through a former student who was a participant. After checking out the program, I realized it was something truly special for our girls, and I wanted to play a part in it.

I will never forget my first day working with Mirinda. We were making plaster molds of our faces. Imagine how it must feel to allow a stranger to place what feels like cement over your eyes, nose, mouth and face! Talk about a bonding moment! Mirinda was full of energy, always going in numerous directions at once. At the same time, she was quite introverted, and you could tell there was something weighing on the young girl’s heart. Less than a year before SOHO began, Mirinda’s mother had passed away. It was clear that SOHO was a means of coping with her mother’s death. The theme of her bedroom became angels, with the focus being her mother, Thomasina. Although neither of us were natural artists, we somehow (with the help of the amazing SOHO artists) managed to make a combined effort and pull off some amazing art work. Our pride and glory was an angel chair that we made with gorgeous wings. Artist Steve Prince was able to take a picture of Mirinda’s mother and paint her face onto the mold that we had made of Mirinda’s face, which was then placed on the angel chair. The unveiling of the chair was a heartwarming moment to even our toughest SOHO girls.

After Gala, a wonderful showcase of the young ladies’ work, our weekly sessions were over and I realized that I was going through SOHO withdrawal. The time spent with Mirinda and the other girls was a blessing. I found that after a long day of work, the art projects were actually just as therapeutic for me as they were for the girls. Watching these girls grow into beautiful young ladies was truly a special experience.

Since SOHO, Mirinda has moved to a neighboring school district. She no longer has her Space of Her Own bedroom, but she does have life long friends and skills. We still manage to talk almost weekly and meet up for icecream, picnics, and an occasional “race” through the park. It’s been exciting to watch her grow up over the last few years and now she’s blossoming into a beautiful young woman. When I look at Mirinda I am truly proud of the young lady she has become; more importantly, I can see that she has pride in herself.

When asked about her experience in SOHO, Mirinda states, “I wasn’t sure that it was something that I wanted to be a part of, working in a group with the other girls, but my attitude changed and I wanted to participate in it. I was lucky to be in it because I got to meet new people and make friends. I really liked drawing and painting and eating all of the good food.” Mirinda also comments that “SOHO made me a stronger person because it teaches you how to control yourself.”

Whether you are a mentor, artist, or sponsor, I highly recommend becoming involved in the SOHO program. Witnessing a positive change in a young girl’s life, along with watching a community come together for the benefit of their youth, is truly an amazing and rewarding experience.