Mentoring: 1 partnership, 2 gifts

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. On Friday they’ll be honored at the Champions of Mentoring luncheon aboard the ms Zaandam cruise ship in Seattle.

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. She lives with her father and her brother and spends afternoons after school with her grandparents. She loves playing with language, her Sims game, her dog Princess, and her tarantula Sheila, in that order.

Kayli is in Honor Society at Harrison Prep, but hasn’t always succeeded. She was, she said, failing in elementary school.

Her father, Kayli said, is very smart, likes to write, and knew she could do better. Together, they decided she’d fit well into Harrison Prep, with its emphasis on academics, community service and relationships.

“And then, poof! I’m getting good grades!” Kayli said.

Feel free to insert an exclamation point at the end of any sentence out of Kayli’s mouth.

Her life flies around her, mixing it up with her imagination.

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.

Theoe is calm, directed, and a breathing encyclopedia of successful strategies.

Kayli’s in perpetual motion. She loves or hates. She can turn a vocabulary lesson into a fantastic adventure.

“She is the total package,” Theoe said. “She’s smart, and getting smarter. She’s a good student, working on constantly improving her grades. She has a positive outlook. She’s talented, creative, outgoing, happy, organized, and a good friend.”

The two focus on academics at the beginning of their hour. Then they’re on to joint projects.

Kayli’s a huge comics fan, and a strict critic of newspaper design and content.

She creates comic strips, occasionally in language class, using the vocabulary words for the day. That’s where Govvero the gopher’s meteoric rise from burrow to the governor’s mansion occurred in panels drawn to King Comics dimensions.

Details like comic book panel size are as important as story line, Kayli explains. A ruler is as necessary as an imagination. You need to understand that if you intend to draw comics for a living, she said. That’s her professional goal.

Last year, when she wanted to earn money during the summer, she and Theoe discussed opportunities. The dogs in her neighborhood need better supervision, Kayli decided, and she likes dogs.

Theoe worked with her on a business plan for a doggie day care business. It did not fly, but it has inspired Kayli to design a board game based on the concept.

“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.”

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677
kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/street