Meg Murphy
Published: April 13 2004
Whether just out of high school or taking their first college class at age 65, most students have questions throughout their first semester at PJC.
New students must deal with scheduling, books, and perhaps most distressing, parking spaces. The first week of college can be confusing, even traumatic, if the student is not prepared.
Preparation was not a problem for some new students. Thanks to a new mentoring program started at PJC this spring, students have someone specific they can go to for answers. Someone who is willing to listen, provides answers to their questions, and wants them to succeed in life.
That person is the mentor. Joan Ziel, Dean of Student Affairs, mentors five students and believes that everyone needs a mentor to help navigate through a complex and sometimes unfriendly system. Ziel sent Valentine’s cards to all of her students and has requested that they join her for lunch.
She relates especially well to one student, Mayra Ramirez because she is interested in dental hygiene as a profession. Ziel also started on her professional path through the dental hygiene program at PJC.
“I know that I would not be where I am today if it had not been for some very good mentors in my life that helped me grow and develop. I, too, am a first generation college student that has benefited immensely from strong and enduring mentoring relationships along the way,” Ziel said.
This is not the first time PJC has conducted a mentoring program. In previous years, students were assigned a mentor and then got acquainted in a large gathering. The system did not work well for everyone. Greta Yates was assigned a mentor by student services when she began attending PJC several years ago.
“I was given a mentor who was quite a bit younger than me. It made me feel a little out of place,” Yates said.
When the program began, 100 students were introduced to the 24 mentors at the pre-collegiate orientation at the beginning of the semester.
The students were then asked if they would like to participate in the program. Seventy students who chose to be involved were then showed photographs of the mentors and asked to select one. They were also asked to fill out a short interest survey, providing their mentor with career information, talents, and a list of interests.
Many students then met with their selected mentor before classes to speak about their schedule and goals for the future.
“Scheduling is one of the things I needed the most help with when I started PJC. I think it’s great that students can now receive individual help with it instead of just trying to figure it out as they go along,” said Julie Johanson, a developmental studies student.
The 24 mentors currently involved in the program are made up of PJC faculty, staff, and administrators. Many of the selected mentors have no prior experience with a program of this sort. They are crusaders, going only on a packet of information handed to them. A formal training session is planned for the fall of 2005.
For now, the job of the mentors is to form a unique relationship with their students. Throughout the semester (and possibly longer), it will be their role to assist students by giving them the information, help, and encouragement they need to do well in school.
Most mentors have already begun to build that bond with the students they guide. Others have been unable to because their students withdrew from school. Dona Cotton, from the pre-collegiate studies department, lost both of her students. One had to leave school because of financial problems and the other moved out of state.
“Still, I think this is a good program,” she said. “I will continue to mentor students if the program continues.”
A few students have not been willing to meet their mentors half way. Virginia Santoni’s first phone call with the student that she was supposed to mentor went well, but after that her phone calls and messages went unanswered. “The semester is not over yet, and I have not given up trying to contact her. I believe in the mentoring program and know that it is successful for some students,” Santoni said.
Although most people agree that the mentoring program helps students more than it hurts them, not everyone feels the program is necessary. Jennifer Korber is in college success and has chosen not to have a mentor.
“I think it is right for some students, but I also think that people need to figure things out for themselves. You’re not always going to have someone there to walk you through life step by step. If I really have a problem, I can go to the head of the department or my professor,” she said.