Rami Alshibli
Starting a mentoring programme at a school is a very effective way in developing the skills and strengthening the knowledge of the student especially freshmen and international students. Through mentoring programmes those students can integrate in the school and get the support they need to achieve their academic goals and personal growth. Mentoring is different than traditional professional training and coaching because it represents a “relational” process while training is a “functional” one.
The way a mentor can be compensated in a school is not necessary monetary. One of the best ways is recognizing mentor’s effort which represents an effective motivation for the mentor to keep focusing on the programme. For instance, honour convictions at the school would give mentors a respectful reputation and motivates them to give more to the mentoring programme. In addition to honour convictions, mentors can be compensated with recommendation letters from their professors which is an effective way to help mentors in finding a job and in pursuing their professional career. Another way of compensating mentors can include extra credit units or grades. For instance, extra grades can be given in a class related to mentoring i.e. education class, since the extra grade reflects an additional skill related to the specialization of the graduate student. However, giving extra grades or credits to mentors-when they are graduate students- in a class that is not related to their specialization is somehow problematic in terms of academic credibility and integrity. Because in this case the grade or the extra credit does not exactly reflect the knowledge of the student in the class he is taking or the field he is studying, which opens the door for questions regarding the school’s integrity and its grading system. Therefore, honors and recognitions are better ways for compensating mentors since the reputation they get from that can help them in being known in their field and assist them in making connections to develop their careers and individual growth.
Mentoring programmes can include supporting young freshmen in their first semester at school by answering their daily questions about the school and how they can benefit from its facilities. Since students would be advised by those who had the same experience, mentor programs can also include advocating students in some issues. Alumni and graduate mentors are able to understand what freshmen are passing through in their first year at school because they had similar experience in the past. By this process CSUN and other schools can reduce their drop-out levels since statistics say that around one third of freshmen leave their schools before finishing first year nationwide.
Freshmen would be able to build their self-confidence through mentoring programmes, since they will be facing a new environment and a bigger community than the one when they were in high school. For instance, a freshman music student in a university will find himself among a larger number of talented musicians in college level. This can make a negative effect on the student especially if he was one of the best students at his high school. Most of mentors passed through a similar experience when they were freshmen and usually they are in a closer age to the freshman that makes mentoring process more rewarding and effective. Another benefit for freshmen is helping them in understanding their rights and how to defend them as students by speaking up and letting their voices be heard in their schools. Moreover, mentors usually have a degree in the same major freshmen are pursuing in this case mentors can advise freshmen on controlling their academic progress.
Mentoring has a great positive influence on mentors, through a mentoring programme a graduate mentor would have the chance to give back to his school and its students by sharing his knowledge with younger students and that increases his feeling of self-worth. The interpersonal skills mentors are going to get from the programme are beneficial in their professional careers, by it they would be able to develop their communication skills and build self confidence in taking care of different kinds of responsibilities such as guiding inexperienced people and developing positive relationship with their coworkers. Mentors also are going to develop their problem-solving skills by listening “actively” rather than “passively” to the freshmen and international students, and by this they would have a great opportunity to communicate with different cultures which enriches their cultural experience and respecting diversity.
Freshmen students’ number is quite large at CSUN and another schools comparing to graduate students, this raises the question of how many students should a mentor have? Since mentors are graduate students, and most graduate students do not have the same pressure and large number of units to finish every semester, they will have more free time to support younger freshmen. However, each student has different needs and issues that means every student needs a different amount of time of mentoring.
In a school, mentoring programmes can include two main types: the first one can be a cross-programme mentoring; this type works on supporting freshmen who have common interests in issues that do not relate to their main major or specialization. In this case the mentor himself can be from a different major. A good example of this type is mentoring a group of freshmen from different majors who show some language difficulties by engaging them in different kinds of activities such as open conversations, papers grammatical review, movie discussion, outdoor activities, and public speaking.
