OHIO NORTHERN: I care.

     All business majors get assigned with an upperclassmen mentor when they are freshman. It is to help them transition into the business college. The mentors are hand selected by a professor in the business college who runs the program. There are Peer Mentor Coordinators who have more responsibilities within the program. They scan students into the event to count for their credit. Last semester, I had the opportunity to apply to become a coordinator. I got it the position! Typically, coordinators don’t have mentees until the second semester because of the many transfers. However, I got a mentee. 

Two days ago, I meant my mentee at a ice cream social event. Being a coordinator, I felt like I was running around scanning students in left and right. This made it so that I couldn’t talk to my mentee as much as I wanted to. However, we did talk about basic things like where he’s from and his major. When I was a freshman, I had a mentor who didn’t put in the effort to get to know me. They never showed up to events or seemed like they cared. Because of this, we never formed a relationship that was beneficial for me. I think that creating a relationship with my mentee is really important for their overall success and experience at Ohio Northern University. I want to be a mentor who cares. 

I want to not only be there for my mentee, but I also want to be there for other freshman and other mentors. I think that being a Peer Mentor Coordinator helps me form relationships with the students who are not my mentees. By scanning in other students to events, I can ask them how they are doing and show a genuine interest in them. I was put in this leadership role for a reason. I think that reason is to show how much I care.