When Adrian was first interviewed to join P4K in 6th, he was quiet and shy. His answers to the interview questions were one or two-word responses. P4K Program Coordinator, Gema Ramirez, wanted to learn more about Adrian, so she decided to add Adrian to the program.
During school visits, Gema noticed that Adrian kept to himself and didn’t interact much with his fellow classmates. Gema decided to reach out to Adrian’s mom to try and better understand how she could help bring Adrian out of his shell. His mom explained that Adrian was having a hard time with his parents’ divorce and as an only child, he didn’t have anyone to talk to about it.
Adrian continued to come to P4K program meetings, but still seemed to be holding back. Finally, after being matched with a P4K mentor who worked at Metropolitan Utilities District, Gema noticed a big change in Adrian. He became very close with other boys in his mentor group and he LOVED coming to P4K meetings. Adrian would even remind his classmates and other group mentors about the next meeting so they wouldn’t forget.
Adrian has transformed from the shy 6th grader who barely spoke during his initial program interview into a confident and outgoing 8th grader who was recently voted to be class president.
