Summary of Mentorship Experience
I have gained a lot of memorable experiences and valuable lessons upon completing the ACES program, but one of the most beneficial activities I was part of was the mentorship experience. Not only did I enjoy doing all of the different events and assignments with my buddy, but I also enjoyed getting to know another ACES member on a more personal level. My first year mentee was Gillian Gremling, and she is from Pataskala, Ohio. She is a Biology major with hopes of having a career working in a hospital or other medical center where she can work with children. Gillian is also possibly considering a related major in engineering, but for now she is continuing her program in Biology. Gillian grew up loving Ohio State, and having her older sister go to Ohio State definitely influenced her decision to attend. She also likes that OSU is not too far away from home so that she can still see her family and her cats.
Throughout the year I picked up on different things that Gillian and I have in common. An obvious similarity we share is our love for Ohio State and being part of the amazing Buckeye community. With that, Gillian and I both take our studies very seriously because we both have big plans for our future. While in different fields, Gillian and I both want to work with kids and we both have a passion for giving back to the community. As well, we both love our family and are obsessed with our pets. Gillian and I also both love ice-cream and had fun throughout the year talking about different flavors at Jeni’s and Graeters. I had a lot of fun getting to know Gillian and discovering the many interests we have in common. However, I also learned that there were some differences between us. While this in no way affected our relationship, I also enjoyed learning about the unique hobbies and characteristics Gillian shares that I do not. For example, a hobby that Gillian has is to draw. I myself do not draw, but I definitely wish I could. We are also involved in different things on campus, but I really enjoyed learning about Gillian’s different interests and how she still loves to make time for ACES.
From spending time with Gillian throughout the year, I saw significant growth in her between the first and second semester. First semester, Gillian was nervous about starting a new school year and how she would find her place. She was also nervous about making friends and fitting in. Come second semester, I definitely noticed that she was a lot more confident about her place at Ohio State and could not stop talking about how happy she was with the friends she made. This made me incredibly happy to hear because I know how hard the transition to college can be and was thrilled that she found a solid group of friends. When Gillian had expressed to me the different things she was nervous about her first semester, I helped her in terms of mentoring by giving organization tips, clubs she could get involved in that were centered on her interests, and academic tips – especially for Chem 1210. In terms of socialization and orientation, I shared with her my own personal experience of becoming really close with the members of ACES and getting involved in different clubs. Gillian followed my advice by getting involved with certain clubs, and she got to know the people living on her floor which is how she became so close with a lot of the ACES members. I was really glad I was able to help Gillian with this transition and offer her support in any way I could.
I would say that this mentoring program has many benefits. From the specific expectations of the program itself, I believe the program is great because it helped develop my leadership and mentoring skills. These are especially important traits I need to work on since I plan to have a career leading kids and being a positive role model. I also believe this program is very beneficial because it got me to be more involved with the ACES program and to get to know more ACES members. While I am very familiar with all of the ACES members from my class, being in this mentorship program not only helped me get to know Gillian a lot better, but I also got to learn a lot about the new ACES members. This program made me more passionate for ACES because by explaining my experiences in the program to my buddy helped me feel like I had a bigger part of the ACES program in general. The experiences, expectations, and people helped make this program very beneficial and I definitely recommend that it be continued in the ACES program.
I learned a lot by being a second-year mentor because of everything mentioned above, but it also helped push me outside my comfort zone a little more and take more initiative. This program helped me meet a lot more ACES members and be more creative in my leadership and mentoring skills. It helped me learn how to take on more responsibility and be a better role model. I really enjoyed this program, and if given the opportunity I would do it over again. My two years in ACES went by incredibly fast, and it is because of all the amazing memories and experiences I had which made it so memorable.