Past Projects:The Mentoring Network

Paul earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and teaching certification from Wayne State University and has directed and executed mural and community arts projects in Michigan, California and Florida. He is the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and public and private grants. The projects below were funded by local and national organizations including Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the AOL Foundation, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, UF Shands Arts in Medicine, and the University of Michigan. Previous Grants
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Smoking Prevention Project (2003 - 2006) download game
Insite Mentoring Network, with funding provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and others, in collaboration with the Wakulla High School Theater Department and Ann Arbor's Huron High School Theater Department, produced The Cut, a 3D, a first-person perspective smoking prevention CD ROM game, curriculum and Web site. The goal of the project was to prevent initiation of tobacco use by middle school students through the use of a peer-mentoring approach and the appeal of the 3D game genre. The game was distributed in Wakulla County and through Michigan Intermediate School Districts to all public and private middle schools in Southeastern Michigan. The Web site, which included a variety of smoking prevention activities and curriculum materials, was utilized by middle school teachers state-wide in Michigan. The game, web site and curriculum helped young participants understand the dangers of smoking, acquire tools to cope with negative peer pressure and develop refusal skills.
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Intergenerational Web Program (1999 - 2004)
Content created by student participants
This program provided intergenerational and career mentoring opportunities for at-risk high school students in Southeastern Michigan. The Web component included a searchable database of mentors, Day at Work features, career FAQ pages and a secure mentor-mentee email correspondence environment. The database was created by over 100 students from area high schools, teen centers and at-risk programs and grew to about 200 web profiles. The students participated in semester-long production sessions held in media labs throughout Washtenaw and Livingston counties. They interviewed mentors, documenting seniors' personal histories, life lessons and timelines, researched younger adults' careers, created mentors' Web profiles and produced their own web sites and on-line resumes.
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Wakulla Arts Projects (2003)
Over the years we have organized various short and long term arts projects in the Wakulla area, working mostly with disenfranchised members of our community. Highlights include: For 2 years we conducted arts and crafts classes for Greenlin Villa, a local residential adult foster care facility (since closed). In the summer of 2007 we organized an intergenerational arts project that involved Wakulla elementary and middle school students in the production of art works for seniors at Eden Springs Nursing and Rehab Center. Each young person was paired with a senior and created art works based upon that senior's interests. These artworks were matted and hung in the seniors' rooms.
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Online Technology Projects (2000 - 2002)
This program was designed and implemented by the Mentoring Network for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District of Washtenaw County, MI. in 2000. It was a collaborative project between Washtenaw County public high schools, Washtenaw Community College (WCC) and area businesses to accelerate students' technology learning by matching high school students with technology mentors from WCC and the local community. Our mentors included staff and college students in the technology and arts disciplines and local professionals working in Web development, computer programming, database management, information technology, digital arts, computer game development and animation. The Web component included a database of interactive tutorials, step-by-step lessons and a secure correspondence and file transfer system.You may encounter inactive links in this section since it contains older material.
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Intergenerational Video Project (1996-1999)
With support from the Michigan Council for the Arts, Washtenaw Council for the Arts, Comcast Cable and Brighton Area Schools, The Mentoring Network involved at-risk teens in the production of broadcast-quality documentaries that investigated the lives of local senior citizens. Students interviewed seniors from Livingston and Washtenaw counties about their personal histories, successes, struggles and lessons learned from their life experiences. These documentaries were broadcast by Comcast Cable in Livingston County and Ann Arbor Community Television Network in Washtenaw County.
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Press Coverage