MIDDLEBURY — On a recent Friday evening, a group of local youths and Middlebury College students gathered in the college’s Forest Hall for mural making, hula hooping and other activities.  

Those in attendance were all involved in the DREAM Program, an organization that aims to close the opportunity gap with mentoring programs and activities for youth living in affordable housing neighborhoods across the Northeast. 

Middlebury College is one of four institutions in northern Vermont involved in DREAM’s Village Mentoring program, through which youth are matched with a mentor from a local college for weekly group activities. 

“It’s a lot like a de-stressor because you do so much in school, so being able to spend time with kids, and honestly become a kid myself, it’s just a lot of fun,” Bianca, a first-year student at Middlebury College, said of the program.  

DREAM — which stands for Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure and Mentoring — got its start in 1998, originally providing programming for children living in a housing development in the Upper Valley. Students at Dartmouth College helped offer the weekly mentoring program that ultimately became DREAM, now a nonprofit. 

“Village Mentoring is our original model,” said Paul Espina, DREAM’s senior youth service manager for northern Vermont. “We gather mentors from the same college and pair them with youth from the same or multiple of the same housing community. That way we are able to combine the best practices of one-on-one and group mentoring because there is a sense of community with mentors already and the mentees already.” 

WILLOW HOSANNA, A ninth-grader at Middlebury Union High School, paints a panel for the Middlebury Skatepark- Community Mural Project during a DREAM gathering at Middlebury College this past Friday.
Independent photo/Steve James

DREAM PROGRAMMING 

He noted DREAM has coined that model “Village Mentoring.” The organization offers a variety of other programs, including afterschool enrichment and a free Camp DREAM during the summer. 

“DREAM’s goal is to reduce the achievement gap, and we know that the summer slide is a very big part of that,” Espina said, referring to the learning loss that can occur over students’ summer breaks. “It is an order of thousands of dollars more between the average amount of summer enrichment that at-promise youth receive as opposed to more resourced youth. So, we offer two free camps for all of the youth in our program.” 

Espina said the organization previously identified a need for more mentoring in Vermont, particularly in the Northeast Kingdom. DREAM received a grant to develop a high school program, and the organization now offers a Guided Mentoring program that connects high school and elementary-age youth in communities around the state. 

Bristol Elementary School and Mount Abraham Union High School are among the learning communities taking part in the Guided Mentoring program, and a similar offering runs at Middlebury Union High School. (See a story on Bristol programs next week.)

DREAM also offers a scholarship fund for the youth in its Village Mentoring program. Each eligible child receives an account, which accumulates contributions until their high school graduation. 

Several students at Middlebury College serve as mentors for DREAM, which currently connects with around a dozen local youths through Village Mentoring in Middlebury. The program is open to children ages 5 (after completing one year of kindergarten) to 18. Espina noted DREAM participants are on average 8-10 years old. 

“After the pandemic we saw a sharper drop off of our teenagers, and we’re slowly working to bring that back,” he said.

AT THE COLLEGE 

DREAM programming at Middlebury College typically takes place on Fridays, with local youths coming to campus for a variety of activities or taking part in field trips. While events largely unfold in a group setting, mentors are paired with a mentee for team activities and additional support. 

“It just allows for extra attention put on every single mentee, which is really helpful,” said Jude Kuykendall, mentor coordinator for the DREAM program at Middlebury. 

The group setting of Village Mentoring is part of what drew Kuykendall to the program. He noted past activities with the group have included sledding, movie nights and an Easter egg hunt. 

“That was probably my favorite,” Kuykendall said. “We spent like an hour before the kids got there putting eggs around the quad outside the student center.” 

Other popular activities have included baking cookies and carving pumpkins for Halloween, a favorite event for first-year student and mentor Saori. 

“It was the first time I’ve ever carved one, and I had a lot of fun with the kids, just helping them out,” she said. 

Mentors said they’ve enjoyed getting to take part in such activities. 

“It’s such a nice break from school, and you can just be a kid again,” said Tamika Samuels, event coordinator for the DREAM program at Middlebury. 

LOCAL YOUTH WYATT Lussier, left, and Middlebury College senior Maggie Harper paint together at the college this past Friday. Both are a part of DREAM’s Village Mentoring program, through which local kids are matched with a mentor from the college for weekly group activities.
Independent photo/Steve James

Kuykendall said he also enjoys seeing mentees’ excitement during group activities. 

“This is just a space for them to have fun, and as long as that’s happening, we’re doing what we’re supposed to,” he said. 

On Friday mentees and mentors worked with local artist Michael Kin on the Middlebury Skatepark-Community Mural Project, an effort aimed at creating a collaborative mural space at the site of the future concrete skatepark in Middlebury that community members have been working toward. Plans for the mural call for a series of workshops with Kin, during which participants are invited to paint one-foot-square panels that will later be incorporated into the finished mural. 

Local DREAM participants last week were also gearing up for the culminating event of the fall semester, a trip to Williston’s Get Air indoor trampoline park on this past Sunday. DREAM activities will resume once college students return to campus in January. 

“I think J-term is a good time because as students we have a lot of free time and creative energy to do something pretty exciting,” Kuykendall said. 

He noted the DREAM program at Middlebury College is looking to recruit more student mentors, particularly after losing several former participants to graduation this past spring. 

“A majority of the mentors are underclassmen, which is really exciting for the future of DREAM,” he said. 

Students interested in getting involved in the DREAM program at Middlebury College can reach out to [email protected].