This is Your Resource to Find or Become Online Mentors  
A Mears Management Service provided by Bronzed Connections Member Partners

Online mentoring is an innovative resource for providing encouragement and guidance to those who want and need a helping hand in completing a particular life mission; reaching an attainable goal. More of us would be making better progress in life if someone had reached out to show us the way to make the changes necessary to forge ahead.

Youth and adults, locally and globally, can benefit from this Mentoring Resource
So, please forward this site to your family, friends and associates everywhere

Click here to become an Online Mentor

Profiles below are of Bronzed Connections members who have agreed to partner with Mears Management by providing online advice according to their area(s) of expertise and based on their own experiences, both professionally and personally. These folk are neither Oprah nor Dr. Phil. They are ordinary people like you and me who are willing to share some information about their life lessons learned and to give a bit of advice from their perspective to you ... the reader.

Clear-cut advice that you will either choose to adhere to … or not (SMILES).
Just as stated in the Mears Management Mission, the final decision is always yours.

Mentor’s Name: Phyllis L. Mears
Member Status: Educator (Retired)
Location: Melfa, Virginia
Experience: Accomack County VA School Teacher - Over 33 years
Education: Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Education
Certified by: Board of Education - From 1972 to 2007

My Greatest Career Challenge:

I had always wanted to be a teacher since I was in Elementary School. Even though education is my field of expertise, pursuing my own educational plan was not the easiest. I started by taking classes part-time through Wallops Island extension program because I did not have the money to attend a full-time program. There was no college facility on the Eastern Shore at that time. I was able to eventually move from that program to being a full-time student at Virginia State College (now University). My sister, Ollie, the owner of this website, and I actually graduated on the same day from that college.

After beginning as a teacher, I decided to pursue a Master’s degree from Old Dominion Univ. along with other friends who were on the same path as I, which was to attain a position as a school principal. Just prior to completing the last portion of that degree, those whom I had car-pooled with suddenly took me off their list of contacts because they were informed that the county was at that time considering me and one of them as the next candidate for a position as principal. The thought of traveling alone across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel to Norfolk several times weekly was a bit much for me, and it delayed attaining my Master‘s.

Managing The Situation:

After being disappointed in my friends for leaving me out of the loop and then lying to folk about why they had, I realized I must not let that experience affect my daily tasks as a teacher. After some years had passed and the degree program was then being offered right here on the Eastern Shore, I decided to complete my mission. But I changed the focus from Administration to simply gaining a Master’s in Education because I had lost many credits from courses already taken that had become invalid due to lapse of time since originally enrolled.

Even though I did not gain an administrative position in the school system, my teaching methods were being used by the school board and administrative staff; my lesson plans were being used as models for other teachers to emulate, my advice was often sought after by my own principals, I became a mentor to new teachers, and students who were being discipline problems were often brought to my class. I was also nominated as Teacher of the Year for Central Middle School in 2000. I retired from Accomack County Schools in 2005.

My Bottom-Line:

In hindsight, I should not have become so dependent on someone else to complete my mission. My advice to all students is to never give up on getting an education; stay in school and move through that part of your career goals as soon as possible.

Mentor’s Name: Curtis James Morrow
Member Status: Entrepreneur (semi-retired)   click for BC biz profile
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Experience 1: Military, Army Veteran - 4 years
Experience 2: Entrepreneur - 46 years, Since 1965


My Greatest Career Challenge:

At 17, I enlisted in the United States Army, and after basic training, joined the 24th Infantry Regiment Combat Team, which was originally known as the BUFFALO SOLDIERS. This was the last All-Black combat unit. There I found myself fighting a bloody war in a place I had never heard of … Korea. I would've left the next day if I could have. War, I found, was nothing like the ones made in Hollywood.

During nine months of fierce combat, I developed not only a soldier's mentality but a political consciousness as well. Hearing older men discussing racial discrimination in both civilian and military life, I began to question the role of my All-Black Combat Unit in the Korean war. Supposedly we were protecting freedom, justice, and the American way of life, but what was that way of life for we Blacks in the United States? Where was the freedom? Why were we, the Buffalo Soldiers laying our lives on the line for a country in which we, African-American citizens were sometimes denied even the right to vote?

Still, we fought and died like the warriors we were. In fact, we were soon to learn that we were, in reality, fighting for our lives ... Our fight for equal rights was another war for those of us that survived the Korean war.

Managing The Situation:

Surviving in a war zone required me to think and act constantly as a trained soldier. That’s what I meant by developing a soldier’s mentality. I have since written a book about my experience as a Buffalo Soldier.

And, if not for the war, military life was okay and a career choice I had made voluntarily. You see, my decision to join had been based on a pact made between me and some of my "homies" who vowed to join up as soon as we turned 17 years old. Even though I later discovered that only one had enlisted in the Navy, some others couldn’t pass the tests and the rest just decided not to join, I didn’t look back because it was my dream as a boy … being quite the adventurer. My life afterwards more than made up for this decision. In fact, I have lived the life I imagined as a kid. I have become an entrepreneur and world traveler, including living in such places as Africa. Another book (memoir) was written by me about those experiences, as well. Click here for my BC member business profile which has links to my book and photo gallery.

My Bottom-Line:

In hindsight, I should not have joined the army without having all the facts beforehand and therefore suffered the consequences. It would have been wiser to have finished school and gone to college first before becoming an artist and adventurer. My senior years now could be spent mainly as a writer and traveler had I taken that path. Local universities sometimes ask me to come and speak to students (especially history classes) about my military experience as a Buffalo Soldier because it is a part of history you will not find in text books. My advice to students and anyone who may be considering any type of career is to research as much as possible so you will know what you are required to do before signing on the dotted line.

  Note From The Owner 

Thanks for stopping in for a visit
Let me know what you think of this service

Contact me by clicking here
Click here to become a BC Online Mentor

Be sure to browse other sections to see if there is some area of the website
that would provide you a means to improve the quality of your life or others you know.
Please return to see what else has been added to this page or to other pages.

Check out our newest service that profiles outstanding kids, globally ...
BC-Youth Excel Project

Remember to forward this site to family, friends and associates

Sincerely,

Ollie K. Mears

Physical Address:
21384 Burtons Church Road
Melfa, Virginia  23410

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 787
Onley, Virginia  23418

Phone: 757-787-7016