I take mentoring very seriously and I am on the board of an organization called Girls Write Now where we match teen girls and writing mentors because it changes their lives.

And I found out the other part of it is that I found out and in my desire to life successfully that baseball fit very well into my life. It's been a great teacher trainer mentor and you'll see what I mean in the next few minutes that I have to speak.

I remember the mentoring experiences of some teachers that I had like a second term home room teacher in public school that really was very helpful to me.

I claim Dickens as a mentor. He's my teacher. He's one of my driving forces.

My art teacher in junior high was a very out gay man and a mentor to me.

My art teacher in junior high was a very out gay man and a mentor to me. He would tell us about Greenwich Village and show us the 'Village Voice' and describe his life but it was all sort of subversive and below the radar.

I was lucky that I met the right mentors and teachers at the right moment.

My success was due to good luck hard work and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly it depended on me to keep trying after I had failed.

If you feel your school is failing you the question is why. Is it a lack of parental involvement large classes school violence poor learning environment? Are there any standards to determine where problems are? Are there tutoring or mentoring programs? If the school is still failing after 3 years then what are your options?

Emotional 'literacy' implies an expanded responsibility for schools in helping to socialize children. This daunting task requires two major changes: that teachers go beyond their traditional mission and that people in the community become more involved with schools as both active participants in children's learning and as individual mentors.

The more consistent a father can be or a mentor can be in the person's life and teach them principles of real solid manhood character integrity and leadership the more consistent you can be in the person's life and teach them those things at a younger age and then the better off they'll be.

The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction.

The things I was allowed to experience the people I was able to call friends teammates mentors coaches and opponents the travel all of it are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime.

Teachers say their schools of education did not adequately prepare them for the classroom. They would have welcomed more mentoring and feedback in their early years.

Research shows that children do better in school and are less likely to drop out when fathers are involved. Engaged parents can strengthen communities mentor and tutor students and demonstrate through their actions how much they value their children's education.

A lot of people put pressure on themselves and think it will be way too hard for them to live out their dreams. Mentors are there to say 'Look it's not that tough. It's not as hard as you think. Here are some guidelines and things I have gone through to get to where I am in my career.'

To be given the opportunity to help shape new artists' careers and mentor them to see their dreams come to fruition is a task I welcome with open arms.