MYCP - Monroe Youth Challenge Program

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Schindler Conducts Writer’s Workshop for MYCP

MARATHON, Fla. (408 words) – Old Dominion University Adjunct Professor Elizabeth (Betty) Schindler hosted a recent writer’s workshop for Monroe Youth Challenge Program- affiliated students at St. Columba’s Church in Marathon.

In a two-hour evening session, Schindler drew conclusions from students county-wide about their experience with MYCP locally or at the PeaceJam Southest Conference in Tallahassee where they met Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Gautemala.

Of MYCP Director Sunny Booker, Roger Matamoros, a sophomore at Key West High School wrote, “I met Ms. Booker when she came to my class, but I didn’t care what she said, until that [service learning] trip to Orlando in November 2009. I thought it was a great trip, but what stuck out the most was that talk I had with Mrs. Booker in the mall. She changed me on that day. She listened and I knew she cared.”

After Matamoros spoke, MYCP Lower Keys Prevention Coordinator Mindy Vinson said, “I went to the event exhausted and with a million things on my mind but hearing Roger and the other students read their papers was a small reminder as to why I do what I do to make it all work for everyone involved.”

Photo credit: MYCP
Old Dominion University Adjunct Professor Elizabeth (Betty) Schindler teaches a recent writer’s workshop for Monroe Youth Challenge Program.

As a member of the STEP team who has performed in the community to raise funds for the local food pantry, Marathon High School Junior Alex Fantroy wrote, “PeaceJam was a new experience to me. It encouraged me to want to do good in my community and stop all of the bad. I want to set an example for everybody else so that they can do good in their own community. If I can change and do good, then I know others can too. I’m not asking for a drastic improvement right away, but a step by step improvement over some time would be wonderful. I wouldn’t let anybody bring me down or hold me back from achieving my goal.”

Schindler used the workshop as a practice teaching to model the writing-to-learn technique for other teachers so they can use writing as a tool for learning in the other disciplines. Before she earned a Master of Science in Education in 1994 from Old Dominion University, Schindler taught elementary school for 18 years.

Monroe Youth Challenge Program is a project of the Monroe County Education Foundation to build Developmental Assets® and create opportunities so every child in Monroe County can feel safe, loved, and celebrated. For more information call MYCP Director Sunny Booker at (305) 293-1400 ext. 53319 or visit http://mycp.keysschools.com/.