Rosie Bly has been a mentor with Everybody Wins! Iowa for three and a half years. She has been a mentor at McKinley during the school year and at the River Woods summer program last summer. When asked why she continues to mentor with us she said, “I love to read. My grandma and I loved reading together when I was a kid. Reading is something I enjoy doing so I wanted to encourage kids to do the same.”
Rosie worked as a cosmetologist after high school. She has since retired from cosmetology and worked as a receptionist for the Child Support Office and Food Stamp Office at the Department of Human Services for 23 years. Rosie is now retired.
Rosie has read with Jaymison at McKinley for the past two years. She says that she is most impressed that her student comes in every week and asks her how she is doing and what she has been doing during the week. Rosie enjoys the connection and sharing about her student’s life.
The advice that she would like to share with current and future mentors is that, “you’ll be surprised that mentoring does as much for you as the students you are mentoring. Being able to come and mentor every week gets me out and moving and doing something for someone other than myself.”
Everybody Wins! Iowa thanks Rosie for her dedication to the program.