Paul and Nichole Pichon changing lives with the Pilot Program
According to Paul and Nichole Pichon, whether you are a fearless leader now or hope one day you will be, it has, or will, cost someone a substantial amount of their time to help get you there, at the very least. They point out that every great leader talks about the things they found most influential in their lifetime, and that one thing was usually a person who took the time to teach, mentor, care or help in some way.
Here on the island, the Pichons are striving to do that very thing. The couple runs the after school Pilot Program, which is for second graders through high school graduation. This cost-free program is meant to enrich the lives of the kids and offer direction in various ways.
“With the younger kids,” said Nichole, “we focus on making sure they’re reading at the appropriate level, and that they’re doing well in school overall, which sets the foundation for them to continue into Pilot for middle school, where the major focus then changes toward community service, outreach and leadership skills.”
In addition to the program’s partnership with Kiwanis, it is partnered with a program in Fort Myers called the Southwest Florida Children’s Network, as well as a national program called Teen Outreach. Nichole explained that the potential for funding is increased by Pilot’s affiliation with these highly regarded, internationally recognized programs, but even more so, she explained, that it gives Pilot kids more opportunities to add to their resumes when beginning college, and also their future as prospective leaders and entrepreneurs.
“I have the younger kids,” said Paul. “They are recommended to the Pilot Program by teachers, not necessarily for any one thing. We have a very wide variety of reasons kids are coming to us, but we don’t necessarily know those reasons ahead of time — they can be academic, they can social or any number of reasons.”
Once the kids are in Pilot, it becomes the Pichons’ responsibility to determine what they most need, and from what aspect of the program the student will be most beneficial. They explained that the goal for the whole program is retention, so they feel it’s important to begin in second grade, and mentor the kids, if possible, all the way through high school graduation. Nichole mentions that there are students they have worked with for up to seven years at this point. Since the Pichons also run the Pine Island Playhouse, they are often able to creatively incorporate that into their overall Pilot curriculum.
“For one of our kids, who was diagnosed with Crohn’s,” said Nichole, “we helped write a play about the disease. We did some outreach for that and she ended up donating money from the play to the Crohn’s Foundation. She is a perfect example of what a Pilot student is.”
The Pichons are pleased that they seem to be reaching the six or seven-year mark with so many of the students who’ve joined the program. Paul shared that one of their young Pilot students came from Guatemala with physical disabilities, making it very difficult to begin in a new country, with a new language. She was placed into the first grade, being able to speak neither Spanish nor English. He said just being around the other kids became monumentally important for this student, in order to acclimate. With the kind of focus that will be necessary for her physical, emotional and academic future, they’re hoping to help this student become another example of what a person can achieve with the proper tools in their belt.
“We have a pipeline for community service,” said Paul, “for example, the sixth, seventh and eighth-graders will do a group project, in their individual grades, but the expectation is that when you become a high schooler, you will do your own project. Family Fun Fest, for instance, was started by a girl who graduated last year.”
The goal is that the Pilot project will keep going long after the student has graduated and gone on to college. “Keep our Island Beautiful” is another example of a project begun by the vision and hard work of a then sixth-grade, Pilot student. Nichole said the project involves the whole Pilot crew going out about once every other month to clean up garbage and debris around the island.
Although the Pilot program is based out of Pine Island United Methodist Church, it’s not a religious program, as Paul explained there are many wonderful church programs the kids can also join. The church does, however, have the space and resources necessary for Pilot students to meet Mondays through Thursdays each school week, and provides food and transportation for the kids. Fridays, the Pichons said, are reserved for paper work and helping the high school students with college applications and other preparations necessary to reach their goals.
“We live very simply,” said Nichole, speaking of their meager salary. “We don’t need a lot of things, we don’t have any children of our own.”
“We just have a lot of other people’s kids,” Paul added, sharing that most of the kids call them Mom and Dad.
Nichole, who was a high school theatre teacher for three years in another state, said she feels that coming to the islands and doing this was exactly what she was supposed to have done. Both Pichons share that the passion which drives them to see what the Pilot students can achieve has largely taken over their lives.
“When I was a kid,” said Paul, “I was often bored with nothing out of the ordinary to do. Now I get to be that guy — the one who helps them with where to go. We get to help them find their next great thing.”
If you have questions about how to help the Pilot Program, please call Nichole at 239-677-9492.
If you would like to make a donation directly, mail or write a check to Pine Island United Methodist Church, 5701 Pine Island Road, N.W., Bokeelia, FL 33922. Please make a note on the memo line indicating that is for the Pilot Program.