Amogh Pathi is currently a student at UC Berkeley and started as a participant of the program when he was 11 years old. He wanted to become a Program Assistant because in high school, he enjoyed volunteering “and thought it would be a great opportunity to work with kids”. As a PA, he hopes to “learn how to be an effective mentor and work well with children from diverse backgrounds”.
He hopes to return as a Program Assistant or volunteer next summer as his goals include learning “how to work well with children”. His future goals is to become a doctor and knows “people (of all ages) skills are important”. In the end, Amogh states “I think the program is really important and helpful to young kids, as a participant myself I have learned many life skills which I still use everyday.”
Ryan Ramboyong is currently a student at UC Riverside. He was one of our original participants when we were “The First Tee of San Jose” and progressed through the program to become Ace Certified.
“I want to give back to The First Tee of Silicon Valley for the life skills they taught me… and hope to gain more experience of working with kids and to learn how to efficiently assist a class.”
The highlight of Ryan’s summer so far is “spending time with family and friends that he couldn’t see since I was in college”. He would like to “keep in contact with many staff and others in The First Tee while in college and possibly go to some events if in town.” “My goals as a Program Assistant are to keep the students safe, make new friends, create memories and have a great time golfing!I met a lot of great people in this program since I first joined in 2006 and was gifted many different opportunities through The First Tee.”
Alan J. Smith is an educator in San Jose. When starting his golf team at Downtown College Prep, he was encouraged by Chris McIntyre, DCP’s Athletic Director, to reach out to The First Tee and get their kids started with some lessons. When asked why did he get involved as a Program Assistant, Alan said “Coach Armando was awesome at guiding my high schoolers in discovering their golf games. In this process of working with him, I learned that I also had a talent of teaching/coaching newcomers to the game of golf.”
Alan really hopes to learn more about the program curriculum and how it blends seamlessly into the different levels within The First Tee program. He is “also looking forward to working with different age groups of varying abilities. Whether they are touching a golf club for the first time at age 13 or they have 6 years of golfing experience at the age of 12. All ages and abilities present new and exciting learning opportunities for me as a coach and human being.”
The highlight of his Summer so far? “… working with the participants on the importance of playing 18 holes with good pace while teaching them golf etiquette”. Alan will continue as an Instructor during the weekends and with his high school team. We hope they, too, will join us as volunteers then eventually Program Assistants and Instructors in the future. He hopes its “a way to build up their golf knowledge as well as teaching skills”. His goal as a Program Assistant it “to become a skilled golf coach and to help others have fun while learning…” and looking “forward to meeting all old and new faces.” If you see Coach Alan on the course or around, make sure to say hi, as he is a team player!