What is a freshman to do? Find a mentor to provide guidance
By Ben Hughes UA’29 and Jim Stellar
I (BH) graduated from high school not knowing what to do in college. I was in a fall term freshman seminar when JS came and gave a presentation in my Living Learning Community course. After his lecture I reached out via email and asked if we could set up a meeting. It was this email that started what is now turning into a mentoring relationship.
The Living Learning Community was something I opted into before the Fall Semester started as I felt obligated to get involved in college. This is something I failed to do in high school despite understanding its importance. From my perspective on paper, the Living Learning Community is meant to provide students with an initial network of resources to help them get involved and adjusted to the many changes in a college freshman’s life. From what I have experienced and through what I’ve seen, any given student is going to get out the amount of effort they put into the experience. Personally, I mocked the class. It felt like another scenario of the school holding our hands. It felt like a waste of time until I acted on an opportunity I saw. Something I commonly failed to do in high school.
I was impressed by (JS’s) genuine passion for the subject of psychology, so much so that I took the risk of reaching out. Despite not being completely certain in my decision I took action anyways. I believe this is a common motif in any freshman’s life and I like to think it’s worked out pretty well so far.
I (JS) was impressed by Ben’s outreach. What I did not expect when we met was that a strong connection would develop and we would begin writing this blog together. To me as a Professor and former Senior Academic Administrator, this is exactly the kind of interaction we hope happens between a student and a course instructor. Or it could happen between a student and someone else at the university such as an advisor, a coach, a teaching assistant. This mentoring experience happened to me when I was an undergraduate, but not as a freshman. Instead it happened in my junior year, but nevertheless it was very important. It shifted my biology premed career plans from premed to pre-research, which is how I wound up with a career as a professor.
So how do such connections form and why do they need to be natural and genuine?
I (BH) think a true sign that a connection is genuine is not when one enjoys speaking with another, but when both parties can take on the role of student as well as teacher at some point or another. When speaking with (JS) I felt as though I came across an interesting conclusion. Throughout the entirety of my life up until this point, and I imagine for many others in my position, our mentors and teachers are assigned to us. Our coaches, teachers, and even parents are all some of the most significant influences on what we learn. For myself one of if not the first time I ever truly chose who I’d learn from was when I reached out to (JS). It was my choice of (JS) and later his choice of myself that allows us to collaborate in a way that simply isn’t typically possible when educators are just assigned. It allows for consistent collaboration without the strain of trying to stay focused on the task which is normally present in most learning environments.
I would agree that the “choosing point” made above by BH is important. Too often in higher education, things get assigned whether it is an advisor or a freshman slate of courses. And, of course, in a class, all of the work is assigned by the instructor and dutifully completed by the student (and for a grade too). This helps the university run smoothly but it squeezes out (or it can) the humanity of the interaction between the people that is often naturally present when two people directly interact. Given the position of professors as the designers and managers of the academic operations which students undertake, it is particularly powerful when that process is replaced by a sympathetic interaction on a human level. It gives a mentor a chance to know a mentee and apply professional development advice in a nuanced way to that individual the student. The student gets to pace and direct that advice as it applies to them and they know whether it is resonating or not. Of course the normal student-to-professor ratio makes these interactions a bit unusual, particularly for the larger student population. But at least JS feels that we in higher education should not just give up on mentoring, even though we all recognize that there are only 24 hours in a day.
So what is a university to do? First, put on some freshman courses, like the ones BH took and where he and JS met. Second, encourage both students and professors to look for this kind of interaction and value it, even if we know it cannot be applied to everyone due to logistical or even personal preference issues. Third, try to create other opportunities where such interactions can take place with other people at the university (e.g. athletic coaches, student club advisors, etc.) and encourage students to get out and do internships in their chosen field where sometimes there are even better opportunities for a kind of mentoring to take place in that apprentice situation. Finally, there is such a thing as peer mentoring or mentoring one can get from family and family friends. All of this matters to student growth and student growth makes universities and colleges look good to the current students and that helps build enrollments. JS always remembers his experiences in administration where the tuition from students keeps the institution’s budget healthy and that is important to everyone who wants it to keep going and thrive.
