{"id":51476,"date":"2018-11-05T16:44:18","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T21:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=51476"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:28:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:28:17","slug":"fall-convocation-biology-graduate-helps-others-through-mentorship","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/fall-convocation-biology-graduate-helps-others-through-mentorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Convocation: Biology Graduate Helps Others through Mentorship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Fall Convocation: Biology Graduate Helps Others through Mentorship\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

One day in September 2014, third-year undergrad Jared Browning walked into the Science Students Success Centre<\/a> (SSSC), ready to start volunteering in the peer mentoring program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years on, he\u2019s a mainstay of the centre, having mentored more than 100 students\u2014some over periods of months\u2014and led numerous events in support of the centre\u2019s mission of helping students adapt and succeed at university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same four years, Browning completed a bachelor\u2019s degree in Biology<\/a> and then a master\u2019s degree in the same discipline while also volunteering with the Lanark Therapeutic Riding Association<\/a> in Carleton Place, which uses horses to provide therapy and rehabilitation to people with cognitive or physical disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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He also volunteered one summer at a hospital in Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJared has a great presence,\u201d says Mandi Crespo, who, as SSSC team lead, oversees the centre\u2019s programs. \u201cHe\u2019s very good at putting people at ease, and he\u2019s made a huge difference to so many of the students he mentored. The SSSC won\u2019t be the same without him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his part, Browning, who tends to take people as they come\u2014\u201ceveryone has something going on that you don\u2019t know about or can\u2019t see\u201d\u2014has nothing but praise for the centre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe SSSC is an amazing student resource that\u2019s really unique to Carleton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crespo agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s rare that universities offer the range and breadth of supports for students specific to computer science, science and math that Carleton does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students are mentored on skills that transfer between classes, such as time management and how to write lab reports. Then there are teams that organize workshops and networking events connecting students with professionals. Browning led the health care team for three years, running, among other events, the popular Med Night, which brings in medical professionals to talk about careers in health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being at the centre fulfilled a strong desire to help others: \u201cI felt that I had gained experience over the years that I could pass on, and I really liked the environment there,\u201d he says. \u201cMy mentoring skills changed over time and, as I felt more effective, the process became more fulfilling. I also started to see trends in students\u2019 concerns, which helped me help them more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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One pervasive concern he observed is the pressure to have a whole career figured out before a student even starts first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s important to realize that life changes along the way, and it\u2019s okay to change with it. If there\u2019s a goal you want to achieve, then for sure, stick to it. But don\u2019t be afraid of other options that present themselves because it\u2019s not necessarily a failure to change from your first focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents can be really hard on themselves,\u201d he continues. \u201cIn the end, things really do work out. You can end up in an area you least expected and still enjoy it, because there is so much out there that we haven\u2019t been exposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That openness works for Browning. While his master\u2019s thesis studied cancer cell response to a tumour-suppressing factor, he recently began a contract conducting ecotoxicology research at the National Wildlife Research Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have my own areas of interest,\u201d Browning reports, \u201cbut when I realized that a lot of my skills could transfer to this job and I could apply what I\u2019ve learned to a new focus, I went for it. It\u2019s been really interesting so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever happens, volunteering remains important. He remembers an international student who was dealing with culture shock as well as a heavy course load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a ton of appointments together,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt\u2019s really rewarding when you see things start to turn around. It\u2019s about making a difference in another person\u2019s life. Even if all your work is with just one person, when you can help, it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall Convocation is taking place on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. The ceremonies will be broadcast online via live streaming at Carleton.ca\/convocation\/live<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day in September 2014, third-year undergrad Jared Browning walked into the Science Students Success Centre (SSSC), ready to start volunteering in the peer mentoring program. Four years on, he\u2019s a mainstay of the centre, having mentored more than 100 students\u2014some over periods of months\u2014and led numerous events in support of the centre\u2019s mission of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":51481,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-51476","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51476","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":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97942,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/51476\/revisions\/97942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=51476"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=51476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}