What’s Good About Our Schools: Team Mentoring Incorporated

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF) – Summer camps can be fun, but they’re also great places to learn. Team Mentoring Incorporated wants to teach kids the skills they need to express themselves and resolve conflict. They can take those skills with them when they go back to school. It’s a current example of what’s great about our schools.

Founder Freddie Brooks explains, “Team Mentoring Incorporated was born out of a vision of our founder from the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters, David Floyd from New York City. And the whole purpose of Team Mentor Incorporated is to engage with our kids during their spring, summer, and fall break. During the summer break, we do this week-long camp, six nights. And then in the fall, we do a session that is probably three days, where we invite people in to teach leadership and health.”

Allison Jones is the founder of Allie’s Kidney Beans Foundation.

She says, “I was invited to the Team Mentoring Incorporated program. We want to make sure that our next generation is healthier. We want to make sure that they have options and that they have places to exercise; recreational opportunities. We want them to be physically active. We want to make sure that when they’re standing in line at school, they’re looking for apples. They’re looking for oranges. They’re looking for beans, they’re looking for salads, they’re looking for healthy alternatives, not just junk food.”

Freddie Brooks explains, “I believe the foundation our children need is community, but also the church and the school system.”

JaCquel Courtney is a student at Chatt Prep.

Courtney says, “I went to the last one last year. And I really enjoyed it. There were more people there, but this one was shorter and actually a lot more fun, because there were new people. I learned a lot about kidney beans… actually mostly about our kidneys, the different stages they go through; how to store them.”

Rusty McKee is Senior Vice President of Stewardship at McKee Foods.

McKee agrees: “Team Mentoring is a great organization for our youth. They come, they eat together. And they have these great people from all walks of life that come here to teach principles of life, like how to get a job interview. Even here at camp in nature. Um, they learn skills of cooperation, teamwork, etc. It’s a great organization.”

JaCquel Courtney adds: “During the interview, I learned that how you present yourself is how you can truly be at the best point in your life.”

Freddie Brooks concludes, “I’ve been a firefighter for 28 years. So if I could have had what we teach them when I was younger, I think they would have had a better platform a little bit sooner. I would want Team Mentoring to be seen as a way to help my child be more focused. I want them to know that Team Mentoring is not the… answer to everything. But I want them to understand that Team Mentoring is really looking at the basics of the things that they need to be young people and to be successful in this community.”