Be Bold!

For the last 6 months I have been spending 2 to 4 hours every week hanging out with my 13-year-old Bolder Options mentee, "Fluffy," as she likes to be called.  This past weekend we completed our first of four running races as part of the program at the Get in Gear at Minnehaha Park.

Fluffy was a trooper!  Despite the rain and the 6:45 wake up call, she had a great attitude and turns out to be quite the runner (well sprinter, actually, we still need to work on pacing).

Besides doing running races, we do all sorts of fun things with Bolder Options.  Some of our favorites are baking bread, walking on the Stone Arch bridge, going to theater performances, and going to the Y to work out.

Fluffy learned how to ski this winter at Theodore Wirth.  She was quite the daredevil on the downhills and not afraid of getting some speed!

Some of the great things about Bolder Options are the large amount of mentor support available and all the cool things being part of Bolder Options gets you into (free Twins and T-Wolves tickets, YMCA membership, lots of theater and museum passes).  There is an endless an amount activities for us to do.  It is a great program with success rates way above the national average.  If you have the time, this is a great thing for you to do for yourself and an at-risk youth.

What is Bolder Options? (hint: it's not a derivative financial instrument) "Bolder Options is an activity-based, one-to-one youth mentoring program. We use running & biking, academic goal setting, and volunteerism to build self-esteem and encourage healthy habits in 10 - 14 year old youth. "