Graduate Mentor Program helps undergraduates reach potential
By Tiffany Cullen
As a student, there are several options for homework assistance. SCAD offers many resources for students who are having trouble with time management, class workloads and learning disabilities.
One newer resource developed in 2008 is the Graduate Mentor Program. In the program graduate students are paired with undergraduate students in the same or similar major to help them with their learning needs.
Graduate mentors help their mentees by exchanging ideas, adjusting to college life and building a supportive relationship.
The mission of the Graduate Mentor Program exists in a four quadrant integral system with a caring support system, self-esteem encouragement, guides to achieve greater time management and first-rate facilities to complete homework in any type of needed atmosphere.
Melissa Rouse, a graduate sequential art student, joined the mentor program September 2009 on a recommendation from her department chair.
“I joined the program to help people and learn one on one teaching techniques,” she said. “As I help other students organize themselves, the process helps me organize myself.”
Rouse describes her mentoring style as progressive.
“I usually need to assess the situation through research: talking to the student/talking to their professors/coaches, in
order to gain a better understanding on how to help. Depending on the student, I decided how fast and how hard to tackle the issues they are experiencing that impedes their progress as a student at SCAD,” she said.
Phyllis Monahan, the Mentor Program Manager, enthusiastically encourages her mentors to help their mentees grow in their academic success. She provides the mentors with helpful teaching tools, lessons from her personal experience in education and insightful news articles she finds in local and national papers.
Christopher Schmidt, a mentor since the start of the program, continues to stay because of the “goals of the program” and “their confidence in me… Once the program was approved to go to a full-scale program I decided to stay on and continue my service.”
“The program offers a hugely rewarding experience for the mentor and the mentee, both professionally and on a personal level. The opportunity to work side by side with an undergraduate student and help them succeed is excellent teaching experience, as well as an opportunity for self reflection and evaluation, as much of the time I see a lot of my old habits and experiences through my mentee’s eyes,” Schmidt said.
