Example 1: Requirements to be a Big Brother/Big Sister in Douglas County, Kansas
Big Brothers/Big Sisters is a national organization that provides adult companions /role models to children who come from single-parent families.
Potential Big Brothers or Big Sisters must:
- Attend an informational meeting
- Fill out an application
- Submit completed reference forms from three references
- Submit to background checks by the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the National Child Abuse Registry
- Take the Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ), a personality test that's evaluated by a local psychologist, and score satisfactorily
- Participate in a 20-minute home visit with an assigned social worker or case manager
- Participate in an hour-long personal, in-office interview with Big Brothers/Big Sisters staff members
- Select a match from a pool of available children
As you can see, Big Brothers/Big Sisters goes to great lengths to ensure that it recruits and trains capable people. Such an extensive application process takes up to six weeks to complete but may help the organization avoid accepting volunteers who don't really fit in with the organization.
Example 2: Sample Checklist of Forms Completed by Potential Mentors
Nickels and Dimes Mentoring Applicant Checklist
|
Potential mentor has attended informational meeting: When? ________ |
Yes | No |
| Potential mentor has turned in a completed application? | Yes | No |
| Director, co-director, and three volunteers have read/approved application? | Yes | No |
| Applicant has returned completed release of information forms? | Yes | No |
|
National Registry of Child Abuse check started? When? ________ Completed? |
Yes
Yes |
No
No |
|
Department of Motor Vehicles check started? When? ________ Completed? |
Yes
Yes |
No
No |
|
Kansas Bureau of Investigation check started? When? ________ Completed? |
Yes
Yes |
No
No |
| Three complete references for applicant have been received? | Yes | No |
|
Applicant has taken psychological exam? Results:
|
Yes | No |
| Applicant has completed an in-office interveiw with director and co-director? | Yes | No |
|
Social worker has completed a home-visit with applicant? Results:
|
Yes | No |
| Applicant file completed? | Yes | No |
| Applicant accepted? | Yes | No |
|
Has applicant selected a youth match? Name: ____________ |
Yes | No |
See attached match file for comments and additional information.
Example 3: Sample letter of reference
William Baer, President
Center for Research on Social Learning
7895 East Wilson Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 64114
Mary Johnson, Director
Search for Excellence
1421 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS 66044
Dear Mary,
This letter is written in support of Joseph Floreani, whom I have had the pleasure of supervising at the Center for Research on Social Learning. While working in our company, Joseph has evaluated and taught elementary-aged children who manifest learning disabilities in the mainstream classroom but for whom no special education services exist. Joseph has performed his duties with diligence and compassion, a rare combination that is greatly appreciated by his colleagues, his students, and their families.
In the five years that Joseph as worked with us, he has demonstrated an enormous capacity for adapting to the different concerns and personalities of his students. His versatility as a knowledgeable, well-educated individual allows him to efficiently plan and carry out detailed educational activities that delight his students while improving their skills and opportunities for success. I can, without hesitation, recommend Joseph Floreani as an excellent mentor in your Search for Excellence program.
Sincerely,
William Baer, President
Center for Research on Social Learning
Example 4: Sample essay questions
Please describe what you learned from your parents growing up. What kind of values did they believe in and which of those values would you choose to teach to your own children? Why?
My father and mother came from good farming stock; they were both born at home, more than fifty miles away from the nearest doctor, and both learned to read over lunch breaks from the field. Because my parents both grew up knowing hard work as part of life, they made their children start earning their keep at an early age. I have been more or less self-employed since the age of eight, when I offered my services as a strawberry picker in the hills of Southwestern Missouri. I always liked the feeling of pride I got whenever I finished a job and came running home with a few dollars in my pockets after several hours of backbreaking work in the hot, tiring sun and heavy pants. From fruit picking, I moved up to mowing lawns and cleaning gutters for our neighbors; as I grew older and stronger, my 'territory' expanded to include locals or 'townies', as we called them.
My parents were proud of the energy and initiative displayed by their children, and the reward for our hard work was a $10 savings bond, which we could choose to use for whatever we wanted, once we hit age 21. Of course, schooling past high school was encouraged, but I decided to wait to go to the university until I had established myself as a businessman. That way when I did go to school, I wouldn't miss out on all the fun when my friends went into retail or other service-for-hire work. My parents supported my decision to postpone school, saying it was just as important to have time as money well spent.
Although my parents and I differ in many ways, I carried their love of early mornings and hard work into adulthood, and have tried to teach the same values to my own children: my kids help me in the garden on Saturdays before they go play, and we are all early risers, as morning time is spent cleaning or cooking or listening to what each person has to say about her or his plans for the day. I believe that time spent in the family setting is just as special and educational as the time spent in the garden or working at the office, but I try to be reasonable.
To me, hard work and good family relations go hand in hand because they buoy each other up and support each other; I never would've been able to make a go of my landscaping business now if my brothers and sister hadn't helped mow all those lawns when we when in grade school together. And, working nine hours a day in the scorching, suffocating heat with flies and sweat all around isn't that fun, unless you have a brother or sister to tease along the way.
Example 5: Personal history
Name two people whom you admired as an adolescent. Why were these people, or how did they act as, role models for you?
When I was younger, Thomas Jefferson was one of my heroes. He's such an important person in our country's history--author of the Declaration of Independence, one of our country's finest patriots, Secretary of State under Washington, third President of the United States. What impressed me the most about Thomas Jefferson, though, was his dedication to education and his pursuit of curiosity. One of the things he requested be put on his tombstone included "founder of the University of Virginia"; I really admired that he worked so hard to bring education to the common man and that, of all his amazing accomplishments, he was as committed to educating every person in America as he was to bringing political power to the leaders of our country.
I also admired Jefferson's fascination with building new tools and inventing machines to make life (ostensibly) easier. I really believe he loved creating his gadgets not so much for their practicality but for the love of a good mental challenge. I think Jefferson was his own best adversary and motivator; he never let himself be satisfied with the way things were.
I also admire anyone who becomes a mother. I believe that no other profession is as important as being a good parent. That's not to say that everyone should be a parent, just like not everyone should be a doctor or a teacher. So, I really admire my mother. To me she represents all that's good about being alive -- she's loving, she's supportive, she sacrificed her own immediate goals of becoming an artist to become a responsible, fantastic mother at a young age. She's done an immeasurable amount for my brothers, sisters, and me -- all good mothers do -- to make sure that her children, her works of art, in a way, were the best they could be. I don't know if we've done her proud or not, but she certainly did her part.