The Judi Yost Facilitator Award of Excellence is named after Judi Yost, a long time facilitator for the Lincoln TeamMates program. Judi helped to formalize the role of a facilitator in the early years of the program and continued to serve for more than twenty years.
The “Yostie” is given to individuals who consistently do an exceptional job of overseeing the TeamMates program at their school. Mentors nominate facilitators who provide excellent support and promote a positive mentoring culture in their schools.
2022 Judi Yost Facilitator Award of Excellence Winners
Bob Ruisinger, Moore Middle School
Bob serves as a counselor and the TeamMates facilitator at Moore Middle School. In addition to serving on the facilitator team, Bob was as a TeamMates mentor. That experience taught Bob how to support mentors in a way that makes them confident in their match. The mentors that he works with at Moore praise his excellent communication and his genuine care for their match.
Thanks to Bob’s advocacy, Moore Middle School has created a TeamMates game room complete with foosball, a Wii, and dozens of board games. Bob often stops into the space during match meetings to personally check in and get to know his matches.
“Bob is excellent at his job. He keeps in touch and is always available when support is needed. He loves the kids and follows up with them as well. He really cares and set up a game room on his own for mentees.”
Moore TeamMates Mentor, 2022
Lisa Kiely, Lincoln High School
With 120 matches at Lincoln High, TeamMates keep Lisa very busy. She does it all with a smile on her face. Mentors praise her friendliness, great communication, and organizational skills. In fact, because of the wonderful support Lisa provides, after their mentees graduate, more mentors request to return to Lincoln High to be rematched than any other school.
Lisa believes in TeamMates so strongly that she has helped to cultivate a school-wide culture of mentoring. The entire staff is on board with the TeamMates mission. Every mentor who walks in the doors is welcomed and appreciated.
“Lisa is supportive and kind. She always takes the time to fully answer all of my questions and requests and goes above and beyond to clearly communicate to mentors.”
Lincoln High TeamMates Mentor, 2022
2021 Facilitator Award of Excellence Nominees
- Bre Bendl – North Star High School
- Deb Keith – Southeast High School
- Lisa Kiely – Lincoln High School
- Bob Ruisinger – Moore Middle School
To view previous Facilitator Award of Excellence Winners, please click here.