The Benefits of the CWC Mentoring Program
The peer mentoring program at CWC is focused on building a more personal relationship with your peers and helping them recognize their goals and abilities so they can achieve success.
With the program, during the first month you meet once a week for approximately 30-60 minutes with your mentor/mentee, and then after the first month you are required to meet at least once per month.
A peer mentor is a friend, supporter, adviser and a person to talk to. Mentors should be a positive role model for their mentee as well as a supporter in helping the mentee reach their goals. During the meeting, you discuss varying topics which may include challenges, problem solving and goal setting.
I never realized how rewarding mentoring a fellow student would be until I signed up to do it. This experience has allowed me to help another student through the course of the school year. It has also enabled me to refine my own skills that I am using for success as a student at CWC, and share it with another person to help them be successful as well.
When speaking to my mentee about the benefits of the mentoring program, they said that one of the main benefits of having a mentor is they help keep you accountable and motivated when it comes to managing your school workload. This person said that after they began the mentoring program, they began to actually get work done and keep up with it. Comparatively, they have successfully established good work and study habits.
Mentoring is extremely important because it helps students to be successful in college. The guidance and support that mentors are able to give their mentees helps steer them towards their educational goals and eventually to their career goals.
To become a mentor, the program is currently open to Student Ambassadors who complete the mentor approval/training process. Any UNST student may ask to be a mentee by contacting either Cory Daly or Mandy Bailey. The TRIO-SSS program also has a mentoring program, and TRIO students interested in being a mentor or mentee can speak with Matt Myers about their program.
Mentoring is a richly rewarding experience for
everyone involved when it goes well. It can be an
opportunity to connect with someone different from
you, and develop new habits to support success.
Students too often report disconnection from peers and we know that this connection can be the most important element in developing the new sense of self required to identify as a college student and eventually, college graduate. Developing community across difference is a high priority, as is helping students to see themselves as more than they previously thought.
by Kayla Hay
-Cory Daly, Vice President of Student Affairs