My first year mentee was Brandon Barcena. He is a Neuroscience major from New York. He came to Ohio State because of the amazing programs and opportunities! Brandon and myself had a lot in common. We are both Neuroscience majors with premed tracks, we both love Ohio State, we both live in Smith-Steeb, and we are both supper busy with all of our commitments. With me being a neuroscience major, we had plenty to talk about, and I also had plenty of advice to give Brandon. I told him which classes would be hard and how I got through them. I told him that is was perfectly okay to struggle in general chemistry because everybody does. I hope that I was able to able Brandon through his first year and give him some insight as to what is coming up in his academic career. We also have many differences. Brandon is from New York and I am from Ohio. We talk differently, we have different traditions, and we definitely grew up in different backgrounds.
Brandon grew tremendously from the first semester to the next. He has definitely found his place at OSU. He told me about all the friends he has made on his floor in the dorm and also the friends he has made in his classes. He told me about how he is working on getting involved in research and now that he has his first year out of the way, he is ready to get involved with clubs. He told me how he has missed soccer since he has been at OSU, so I recommended intramural sports or even club soccer! He also played on an intramural basketball team with people on his floor, Mikayla Simon, and his RA. I think Brandon has done a great job at getting involved. AND he survived General Chemistry, which is amazing!
I helped Brandon become familiar with OSU by telling him about all of the opportunities here. I told him about all of the student organizations and the website on the union page that he could use to find them. I also helped Brandon by telling him what professors he should try to get for his Neuroscience classes. I introduced Brandon to my friends and made sure that he was fitting in here at OSU. Brandon has definitely made friends, and he has also became more involved. I always tried to be their to answer Brandon’s questions about ACES, about dorm life, and anything else that he needed.
One of the Major benefits of the mentoring program is just getting to make another friend. You can never have too many friends, and getting to make a connection with a first year in your scholars program is great. Last year, I felt like I didn’t know any of the second years. This year, I have met so many first years through the mentor program. Brandon has introduced me to his friends and the first years are a great group of students. Another benefit is getting to share my knowledge with a first year. I wish I would have had an upperclassmen to turn to last year to answer all of my questions.
The mentorship program has been absolutely wonderful. I have learned so much from Brandon and I hope he has learned from me as well. Having a first year that relied on me definitely shaped my leadership skills. I always tried my best to make sure things were going well for Brandon and if I could help him in anyway. I hope that the mentorship program continues in the future because, in my opinion, it was a great way to bring together first years and second years and make ACES a stronger community. Obviously, the program could use a few tweaks, but everything seemed to go very smoothly for the first year. This program should be kept in ACES for years to come.