I participated in the mentorship program for my leadership development project, and I had two mentees. Hadas Marcus and Becca Nichban were my mentees this year. Hadas is from Cleveland, Ohio and is majoring in public health. Becca is from Gurnee, Illinois, outside of Chicago. They both very passionate and know what they want for themselves, and that has really impressed me from the start.
Hadas in high school was very involved in reproductive justice issues and volunteered for some time at a rape crisis center, and has continued to show that interest in college. I actually work for the university in sexual violence education and prevention, so we immediately had that connection. Next year, she has been hired to do the same thing as me, and we’ll continue to see each other and work alongside one another as well. Becca has a love for math that we both share, but she loves geometry, statistics and trigonometry, while I prefer calculus. But we both agree that applied mathematics aren’t for us, just the general concepts and working with numbers are of more interest. From our interviews this year, I learned that both my mentees have very firm ideas about what path they wanted to take in college and what majors and involvements would work well for them. This is so different from me as I’m unsure about what I want for my future. I think this has helped them though because I’ve worked with a lot of different advisors and asked a lot of questions that made it so I was more able to help my mentees when they asked about things like getting involved on campus or declaring a minor.
I observed as both my mentees came in with the ideas regarding how they wanted to spend their time and how they wanted to pursue their majors and/or future plans, but as the year went on I got to see how exactly they created communities for themselves and how they broke ground for creating their pathways. Hadas integrated really well into her major and the College of Public Health. She got involved with the Public Health Student Leadership Committee and has talked about how encouraging and exciting it is to meet people who share a passion like hers. She’s also had the opportunity to discuss with public health faculty about their career paths. Becca was able to participate in the First Educational Experience Program, which resembled student teaching, so she could get some experience with working in a classroom setting. She told me she really enjoyed it and that that has also solidified her goals to become a high school level math teacher.
Moving from my freshman year into and through my sophomore year I feel like I have really found my footing. Also by working in student life in two different student employee roles, I was able to pin down a lot more helpful information for my mentees and myself as far as on campus resources go. I participated in more student organizations this year and even achieved an officer position in the dance club I participate in, Dance Coalition. By branching out myself and participating in things like STEP, the ACES mentorship program, and other things I was able to navigate these resources and better able to explain things to my mentees when they came to me with questions on what kind of things to get involved in or how to navigate minors. I think that just be branching out myself I became a better source of information for Hadas and Becca.
I learned a lot from my leadership as a mentor. I think that being a mentor is a bit like acting as a supervisor for someone. Throughout the year I checked in with my mentees on their well being, how their classes or finals were going. I also just wanted them to take care of themselves. I proposed lunches or breaks from studying if they wanted.
Specifically with Hadas, when she applied to the position that I currently do as a Sexual Civility and Empowerment Ambassador, I worked with her on any questions she had regarding the application process, and then when she got the job about the logistic of it. With Becca I answered any and all of her general questions, gave her advice about getting involved as well as navigating somethings with whether or not she was enjoying the club she was in based how leadership roles where handled.
I think the mentoring program is a great way to connect with people in ACES that aren’t in your class, because when I was a first year it was difficult for me to get to know the second years, so I’m sure the same is true for my mentees. Even as a second year it’s hard sometimes to integrate in with the first years. Plus I think that the members of ACES are very diverse in their experiences as well as their goals for college and their careers and are great resources for first year ACES. I’m so glad I was able to build a relationship with my mentees and have really enjoyed it as a way to make friends as well as develop my leadership skills.