Whooooo are you? Who Who

So I'm typing this right after the SuperBowl, so that song is in my head. But it is a good intro to what we learned about in our last class. We discussed the stages of a mentoring relationship, and the first stage is Who are you? I think this is the most difficult stage because this is where first impressions come into play. It is critical to make a good first impression because that is the opinion that often sticks. As peer mentors, we know what the incoming students are going through and we have to make sure they know that we are here for them. For me, names aren't easy to remember right away, so I am going to try very hard to learn them very early because I feel that instantly means we are making a large effort to get to know them.

A lot of times I think the incoming students don't understand why they are taking the Hixson seminar and just think they are taking because of the scholarship. It is important to let them know of our expectations and results of the class from the beginning, so they will know the seminar has a purpose.

I think our preparation seminar is similar with the stages. We are still learning who each other is, why we are here, and where we are going: the expectations of the seminar & expectations from us. We will talk about how we are doing and what is working/not working along the way as we continue gaining the skills to being effective mentors. At the end we will come back and talk about how confident we will feel about our abilities to be mentors in the fall.

So far the stages are rolling smoothly, and I think they will continue to because we have such a fabulous group!