Today, I met up with my mentee, Kaitlyn, over a cup of coffee, and we talked about fall semester and how the current semester has been going.

I asked her about her current study habits, and if what she uses now is what she used last semester. She told me that in order to study for tests, she goes over lecture notes, and also does practice problems either given by her professor, or found in the back of her textbooks. She also goes over the questions posed in class on Tophat, an app some professors now use to engage students better during lecture. In order to maximize her study time, she usually leaves her dorm room where it is distracting, and finds a quiet spot either somewhere else within the dorm, or in the library. If neither of those are accessible, she will use earplugs and study in her room. She said the difference between last semester and this semester is that last semester she did not use all of the resources available to her, and she studied “too much” material, meaning she studied things that were never on exams, which ended up wasting a lot of valuable time.

Next, I asked Kaitlyn about her involvement. She told me that she joined a sorority a few weeks ago, she is still in optometry club from last semester, and she’s in ACES. For next semester, she will be living in her sorority, so she would like to get more involved either working with the sisterhood committee or the volunteer events committee. She would also like to join the pre-health club on campus, because they do a bunch of volunteer outings, and she has been looking for other ways to volunteer while also pursuing her interests. Speaking of volunteering, she would also love to volunteer at the Wexner Medical Center, however it is a very competitive position, so she will need to find other opportunities as backup.

As for improving the ACES program, she recommended spreading the days and times of events out throughout the week. She said a lot of the events are on the same day and at the same time, and it is hard not only for her, but other people on her floor, because they all have other commitments as well. She also said that she wishes there would be more opportunities to sit down and get to know other people in ACES. I agreed, because I really only know the girls in my ACES class, and not the freshman other than my mentee.

I asked her if her career plans had changed since last semester, and she said that she still would love to go to optometry school, but she has realized that there are a lot of other options, and she needs to explore other career opportunities. A couple she mentioned were becoming either physician’s assistant or a nurse. Whatever she does, she would love to work in the health/medical field, because that is, and always has been one of her passions.

Finally, I asked Kaitlyn about her favorite memory from last year, and she said just the nights when she stayed in with her roommate and watched a movie and bought candy, or when they went to Gateway to see movies. She also mentioned traveling to Easton in an uber with a few of her friends a couple times, which she said was another one of her favorite memories from the fall.

With these thoughts in mind, I would love to get together with Kaitlyn a few more times this semester to either help her with schoolwork or talk to her about her career plans. Since I am a nursing major, I have some experience with her classes, and I am also a few steps ahead of her, so I can guide her down whichever path would follow her dreams and her passions.