{"id":1853,"date":"2015-09-25T10:57:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T14:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=1853"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:45","slug":"mentors-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/mentors-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentors Make a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Mentors Make a Difference\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Those looking to benefit from some mentoring from their peers at Carleton can now access training and resources in a central place, thanks to a new initiative at the Student Experience Office (SEO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mentorship Network<\/a>, located in the Tory Tunnel, is a hub where students and staff can tap into existing mentorship programs, training and resources, and connect with a mentor or mentee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere at Carleton, we\u2019ve had a number of mentorship programs,\u201d says Andrea Hogue-Reynolds, the network\u2019s mentorship co-ordinator. \u201cBut we\u2019ve all kind of worked independently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network fosters collaboration between those programs and create a shared understanding of what mentorship at Carleton is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image url=”\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/mentor-1.jpg”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since opening this fall, the Mentorship Network has trained 150 student leaders from the SEO, the International Student Services Office, Residence Life Services and the Sprott School of Business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to them, hundreds of Carleton students benefit from peer mentorship each year. From 2010-2015, nearly 1,000 students participated in the SEO\u2019s First-in-Family program and Bounce Back, which helps first-year students who are struggling academically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, as many as 120 mentors and 600 mentees are expected to participate in Bounce Back and the new First-Year Connections program.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe had hoped to partner with a couple of programs and the numbers are growing as word spreads about the opportunity,\u201d says Hogue-Reynolds, adding that more partnerships are in the works.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not only is the network building peer-to-peer relationships, but it provides students with skills and experiences they can apply to their resum\u00e9s or co-curricular records that include volunteer work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe already know that students want to support each other. We see that it happens informally all over campus,\u201d Hogue-Reynolds says. \u201cIt\u2019s really a neat opportunity for us to formalize the training and provide them with the opportunity to represent the work they\u2019re already doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefits have come full circle for some students, like second-year psychology major Hendrik Tilma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former mentee in the First-in-Family program, Tilma is now guiding five of his own mentees through the challenges of first year \u2013 from finding campus services and time management to connecting with other students.<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image url=”\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/mentor-2.jpg”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told my parents I was going to university and they were like: \u2018That\u2019s great,\u2019 and not much else,\u201d Tilma says. \u201cI found it super beneficial to have someone who was more experienced than I was to refer to, even if all he was doing was telling me: \u2018You\u2019re actually doing very well. You\u2019re on track.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His advice to those considering mentorship?<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cNever be afraid to ask for help,\u201d Tilma says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t end up needing it, that\u2019s great too. Then you\u2019re just doing better than you thought you would.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While it isn\u2019t going to be a perfect experience for everyone, Hogue-Reynolds says mentorship programs are a great way to connect people who may be struggling to find support networks on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth a try, because I\u2019ve seen wonderful student leaders come out of these programs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo have the mentee become the mentor, that is such a sign of success of that relationship and the program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those looking to benefit from some mentoring from their peers at Carleton can now access training and resources in a central place, thanks to a new initiative at the Student Experience Office (SEO). The Mentorship Network, located in the Tory Tunnel, is a hub where students and staff can tap into existing mentorship programs, training […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1853","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}