https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/positive-teachers.html
Since then, I was thinking of writing a blog post about positive workplace mentors. Along the way, I got distracted by other things and forgot about it.
Now is the time.
This blog post focuses on a summer program mentor and library mentors I had in the past. Mentors in other fields could be mentioned in future blog posts, time permitting!
This blog post doesn't list everyone that made positive contributions to my work success, so please don't take it personally if you are not mentioned in this blog post. When time permits, I could mention you in future posts.
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1.) Vince DeBina
I have to start with the mentor who had the most impact on me.That would be Vince DeBina, who used to be the Recreational Director at Palama Settlement. He was my supervisor back when I was working with their summer programs back in 2005 & 2006.
For those who are not familiar with Palama Settlement, it is a non-government, non-profit community center serving a low-income area of Honolulu. The surrounding area includes some low-income public housing complexes and really old wooden houses. Much of the population in the surrounding area are immigrant families, though there are some Native Hawaiians there too!
2005 was a year in which I was figuring out what to do with my life now that I got my bachelor's degree from UH-Mānoa.
I was hired to work as a substitute teacher with the Department of Education that same year. For the summertime, I applied to work at Palama Settlement.
Vince was the person who interviewed and hired me.
This, even though I had never worked in any summer programs before.
And yes, I was in for a rude awakening.
A rookie assigned to work with a group of very rowdy students.
Rookie errors? Best believe it!
Situations where I felt overwhelmed? Best believe it!
Situations where I felt some serious self-doubt? Best believe it!
Situations where I didn't know what I was really doing? Best believe it!
I never wanted to be "the mean guy", but once students get out of hand and they needed some discipline, I became "the guy who is always yelling".
Now that was very heart-breaking to me.
To be honest, I never even thought of myself as a "yeller" before this. But then again, I was never in that many leadership roles before this either.
However, Vince was there to guide me in how to best handle situations. Vince told me that yes I have to be stern, but I also have to be calm.
That took a lot of practice. It's not something you can fix overnight.
I have definitely improved on that over time.
Vince also emphasized that you have to keep the students busy because any downtime is a time when they can get out of control really fast. After all, kids aren't good at staying still.
I wasn't really good at coming up with new activities, but Vince showed me some games I do with the students while they are waiting for the next activity.
Since then, I have learned some funny stretches to do when the students are waiting forever for the next activity to set up, or when they are waiting for the bell to ring.
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Another I learned from Vince was how to best deal with less than ideal co-workers. We had this ex-military guy Jesse who thinks he's everyone's boss. I wrote about him at
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-bullies-of-summer-fun-exposed-to.html
When I mentioned the issue to Vince, he told me "tell him 'thanks for your concern, but ..............'"
In other words, Vince was teaching me how to be diplomatic.
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After the summer was over, I went back to being a substitute teacher. Again, this was all new to me. Crazy situations that tested my patience. Situations I never dealt with before. Situations that I witnessed something similar as a kid but now have to take the lead and handle it as an adult.
Sometimes, I would visit Palama Settlement and if Vince was there, I would tell him about the situations I was facing as a substitute teacher in the DOE. Vince himself was a former DOE teacher so he's been there.
For example, there was this bizarre situation where this student claimed to need to use the bathroom so I had to write a bathroom pass. I ask "what is your name", she said, "I forgot what my name is". This went on, then I was so angry at her mind games that I SCREAMED "WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" (circa 5-6 times).
You know what Vince told me? "If they don't tell you their name, just don't write the bathroom pass. If they really need to go, they'll tell your their name"
DAMMIT, I wish I thought of that!
I mentioned to Vince that a few times, some of the students wanted to fight me. I told him the situation and I mentioned that I told a few of them to "shut up". Vince told me that "shut up" is a fighting word and it's better to tell them "please be quiet right now".
It's been years since I last told students to "shut up"
He also mentioned that it's also better to call security in case the situation gets out of hand instead of yelling at the students.
About a year later, I told him that one principal (Brian Mizuguchi, who used to be principal at Central Middle School) claimed that I call for security too much. Vince said, "what's wrong with calling for security?" So now I have to learn new ways to de-escalate situations without needing to yell or calling security.
So much wisdom was being learned as I talked with Vince. I learned about how to deal with situations where you're under pressure to make instant decisions that can make or break your career. It was lessons that I didn't get from my family or friends.
Thanks to Vince, I was learning to transition into becoming a mature adult.
Now, being a mature adult doesn't mean being serious 24-7. Vince had a great sense of humor about situations, but it was a mature and appropriate sense of humor. No "locker room jokes" that can get you fired in our industry. Vince knew how to use humor to de-escalate situations instead of escalating situations.
Vince has since retired from Palama Settlement for a few years already.
But I will always appreciate the great words of wisdom I got from him. He is like a father-figure to me and he will always be appreciated.
2.) Library mentors
Libraries have usually been my favorite places to work at. Organizing bookshelves is like heaven to me, and many of the workers (with a few exceptions) are the most wonderful people to be around.The first job I ever had was at the McCully-Moiliili Public Library. I was hired for a temporary position a few months after graduating from high school in 1999. The people who interviewed and hired me was Christel Olsen and Daniel Nitta. They offered simple & clear instructions and I was able to organize the bookshelves with minimal supervision
My next library job was at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. For the Fall 2000 semester, I was working in the Periodical section under Ellen Solomon. For Spring & Summer 2001, I was at the Inter-Library Loan department under Pat Ogburn. In both cases, I was working with very nice & approachable supervisors who gave me clear instructions and allowed me to my tasks in peace.
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My favorite library job of all time was at the Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (LBPH) from 2002 to 2004. My supervisor was Nani Hee. A very sweet person with a great sense of humor and sincere friendliness. I wished all supervisors are like that.
In that job, I mostly organized the shelves as well as incoming & outgoing mail. That work was like heaven to me.
The only reason I left LBPH was my position (part-time student helper) was a low-paying position and I was offered a higher paying Federal Work-Study position at UHM.
I returned to LBPH during the summer of 2014 doing an independent research project as a student enrolled in UHM's Library & Information Science (LIS) program. She was then doing the library's radio reading service which provides news radio services for eligible patrons.
learn more at
https://f50b11d0-8144-4b73-aa56-1defbe26de98.filesusr.com/ugd/c8d67a_423100c258d2412f97a3bb90c6ee4396.docx?dn=LBPH%20Radio%20Reading%20Services.docx
Fast forward to February 2020, and Nani Hee was given the Excellence in Service (EIS) award from the Friends of the Library of Hawaii (FLH). I was at the ceremony, which took place at the Hawaii State Library. She definitely deserved the award.
I did talk to Nani Hee at the ceremony. She was now the only LBPH staff member from my era that is still there. Definitely a lot of institutional knowledge after all those years.
Now that I think about it, it was a great thing that the ceremony took place in February because a month later, everything was shut down due to the coronavirus crisis.
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Speaking of the Friends of the Library of Hawaii (FLH), we have the Executive Director Nainoa Mau.
Don't let the Executive Director title intimidate you, Nainoa Mau is a very down-to-earth person who will address all your concerns with a friendly smile.
I first volunteered with FLH in the summer of 2013 for its annual booksale at McKinley High School. I've been at every booksale there and at Washington Middle School since then. At all those booksales, Nainoa Mau is constantly bombarded with questions, but I never see him feel overwhelmed there.
Starting in 2017, FLH opened its mini-bookstore Books@Mark's in downtown. I usually assisted on First Fridays every month until the coronavirus crisis. Sometimes, Nainoa Mau would drop by, but even when he's not around, I could text him and he would respond.
In everything I do there, Nainoa Mau has been very patient in giving me instructions, advice, and encouragement. When errors happened, he has been able to help me correct them. I wish every supervisor was like this.
Thanks to Nainoa Mau and the rest of the staff & volunteers, FLH is like family to me. It's been very sad that much of their activity has been shutdown due to the coronavirus crisis. However, they plan to move their warehouse to a more convenient location soon, so I might see them more often in the near future.
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People usually think of libraries as a place where books are stored. However, there are other types of libraries as well. One of them is the Image Library, where analog slides and other visual materials are stored for use by its constituents. At the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, the Art & Art History department had its own Image Library for which I did an internship during the Fall 2015 semester. Within that semester, the Image Library changed its name to the Visual Resource Center (VRC).
For the internship, I did a digitization project, where I prepared a group of analog slides (taken by a now-retired art history professor) to be digitized on the UHM's Museum's flicker page.
Learn more at that project at
https://pwegesen.wixsite.com/pablowegesendlis/lis-690-fall-2015-projects
I chose to do an internship at the VRC due to a classmate's positive review of his experience there. The internship supervisor there was Kanako Iwase. She was very patient in training me to do many technical things that I've never done before. I learned to use new (and old) equipment and software. She helped with troubleshooting whatever issues occur along the way. When things go smoothly, I can do my work independently without excessive interference. And most importantly, the slower pace of that work environment was heaven to me.
She since moved on to another location, so I don't even know if the VRC is still being used. But whatever happened, VRC will always have a special place in my heart.
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The last mentor I will mention for now is Wayde Oshiro.
He was an assigned mentor when I applied for a mentorship program with the Hawaii Library Association (HLA) in 2018. At the time, I was still struggling to find a full-time library position, and I wanted to remain updated with what's going on in the library world.
I was assigned to Mr. Oshiro, who was working at Leeward Community College (LCC), a location that is convenient for those who live on the western half of the island, but I live in the eastern half of the island, so scheduling a visit took a while. But once that visit was scheduled, it was magical. Oshiro gave me a tour of LCC's library, had me observed a library instructional session (where a librarian taught a class how to search library databases) and a special presentation by guest speakers. We then talked individually about the past & future of libraries.
In the fall of 2019, I met up with Mr. Oshiro and I talked about my adventures working at a public middle school library. He did ask about visiting there and I was considering inviting him to a career day presentation. However, too many distractions come to my mind, and I later left that middle school library I was working at.
Right now, I'm hoping for even more great work mentors to come my way in the future!
