Mentoring: 1 partnership, 2 gifts

Excerpted from The News Tribune
Kathleen Merryman

Kayli Ryan has a big case of the wiggles, right through to her brain.

Present the 12-year-old girl with a concept, a word, even a type face, and she can’t resist turning it upside down, all around and inside out. That makes her a not-so-conventional student, and a delight to her mentor Kathie Theoe. It’s also helped make Kayli and Theoe the Washington State Mentors’ Match of the Year. And they’re one more example of how an hour or two a week can enrich two lives in unexpected ways.

A retired senior vice president at Harborstone Credit Union, Theoe is allergic to idleness. She’s active in Lakewood’s civic life, and she worked for years to forge useful connections between business leaders and Fort Lewis commanders. She bit when a friend suggested she join the 70-plus volunteers in Communities in Schools of Lakewood’s Champions Mentor Program.

A seventh-grader at Harrison Preparatory School, Kayli is a passionate cartoonist. But Kayli hasn’t always succeeded. She was, she said, failing in elementary school.

When she came to Harrison, Champions Mentor Program offered Kayli the chance to meet with an older, more experienced person for an hour or so once a week. “I thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to,” she said.

Enter Theoe.

The two wear their intelligence differently, and end up complementing each other. “This ability to build on Kayli’s gifts and encourage her dreams is what makes Kathie such an effective role model,” said Doug Baxter, the mentoring program’s director who nominated the duo for Match of the Year.

Then there’s what Kayli’s done for Theoe. “She keeps me younger,” Theoe said. “I describe Kayli as a gift, a wonderful, unexpected gift at this time in my life.”