PROGRAM HELPS MENTOR WOMEN OF TOMORROW

ANDREA TORRES, atorres@herald.com

Priscilla Diaz could not believe her eyes. Not 10 feet away from her, a man's chest was being sawed open.

It was almost too much. To this day, Diaz doesn't remember how she got through that 2002 field trip at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach.
Now 21, she knows that no matter how grossed out she was by the open-heart surgery, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And that was the point.

Diaz is a former member of the Women of Tomorrow Mentor and Scholarship Program, which uses strong role models to keep high school girls out of trouble and on the road to success.

Diaz's mentor when she attended Miami Beach High School was Millinda Sinnreich, a registered nurse who knew the trip to the OR would open some eyes.

``The field trips give me the opportunity to help girls like Priscilla see Miami as a city full of opportunities,'' Sinnreich said. ``We also want to expose them to new experiences and teach them important life skills.''

For Diaz, the program worked and had some lasting impact.

``We went to the most interesting field trips, met successful women with careers, learned things like how to dress for an interview, and I received a partial scholarship,'' said Diaz, who is studying journalism at Miami Dade College.

Diaz also got to meet a role model, Jennifer Valoppi, a former news anchor for WTVJ-NBC 6.

Valoppi and Don Browne, president of Telemundo Communications Group, founded the program in 1998.

Since then the program has disbursed about $400,000 in scholarships and is now mentoring 1,500 girls in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach public schools.

Diaz remembers her group as a source of strength.

``My mother is a single mother, and my father was never really there, so we struggled,'' she said. ``I remember a day I broke down and told it all. The group and Millinda were there for me. She is awesome.''

Members of the board of the Women of Tomorrow apparently agreed with Diaz. They recently recognized Sinnreich as their Mentor of the Year over 175 other mentors.

Sinnreich created a training manual with activities and guidelines for the mentors.

As a mentor, she believes she can understand their struggles.

``My grandmother raised me,'' Sinnreich said. ``She played the traditional role of a stay-at-home mom. She didn't go to college, neither did my parents.

``I think if I would have had a career-oriented mentor I would have probably been a doctor. Who knows? What I do know is that being a nurse opened my eyes to a new world,'' Sinnreich said. ``I believe this program can really impact their lives.''

Sinnreich and two more volunteer mentors - Kathy Green, a broker associate from Coldwell Banker and Randy Schemkman, a retired radiologist - or a visiting mentor meet monthly with the 34 girls at Beach High.

The recruitment policy varies from school to school.

``We believe all teenage girls are at risk of getting pregnant, of having an eating disorder, of dropping out of school,'' program director Bianca Erickson said.

With this in mind, Charmaine Williams, the new occupational counselor at Miami Beach Senior High, will replace this year's 15 graduating seniors with new members.

With graduation getting closer, some of the girls in the program are crossing their fingers.

This year, 60 seniors in Miami-Dade will receive scholarships. The program will reward mentored students who have improved their grades, attendance and community involvement with about $250,000 in scholarships.

The mentors will announce the winners of the scholarships at a luncheon May 11 at Parrot Jungle.

``I already knew I wanted to go to college, but by meeting powerful career women, and people like Millinda who continue to believe in me, I feel like if I set my mind to it, I can do anything,'' Diaz said.

Sinnreich agrees, and gives Diaz just another tip: ``A woman who doesn't nurture herself can break and have nothing to give; that is when a strong women's support group becomes useful.''