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Stoked!

On the Mountain, In the Sea, and On the Pavement, Role Models Make a Difference in Kids Lives

Steve Larosiliere learned first-hand the positive and powerful influence that mentoring a child can have.   Years ago, he decided to mentor a young man in foster care.  The boy said to Steve, “you know, you are the only person I can really talk to.”  Steve wanted to share his love of snowboarding with this mentee, and decided to start a snowboarding mentorship program with the idea of taking mentoring relationships to a new level.   

What grew out of this idea was Stoked!, an innovative non-profit organization serving at-risk youth 13-18 through mentoring, after-school programs, community service, and action sports activities.  Stoked provides skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing activities to mentoring pairs, after-school program participants, and community service volunteers on weekends.  Each activity day incorporates a theme such as positivity, respect, or trust, and is designed to teach life skills related to learning each sport. For instance, when learning how to snowboard, beginners fall often and can easily become frustrated and want to give up. With support from volunteers and mentors, Stoked youth learning the sport are taught about resiliency, determination, goal setting, and overcoming obstacles, all skills that can be applied to their daily lives.

By using the framework of action sports combined with mentoring, Stoked is able to maintain a 92% retention rate for students of its programs and a 100% high school graduation rate for mentored students.  In six short years, Stoked has grown to serve over 500 students in New York every year, and with the help of The Catalog for Giving, hopes to increase and expand its programs.

“I’ve had problems in school because I can’t balance doing school work with other things, but Stoked helped me because if I was falling behind, Stoked would help me go see a teacher to help me get back on track.” – Kasim, 16