By Samantha Amaro | Reporter
A new mentorship program is being implemented this month for the School of Engineering and Computer Science that will help students reach out to professionals and form relationships to help guide them through their journey of higher education.
The sense of community so ingrained in Baylor’s learning environment has now expanded to include a program that connects skilled professionals in and around the Baylor community to students in the School of Engineering and Computer Science.
This program can be beneficial to the students who wish to form relationships or seek advice from those with years and experience under their sleeves. Students may wish to discuss real-life problems in the industries they wish to join after graduation, or perhaps they have questions that an experienced member of their future professions could answer.
The program offers the chance for students and those professionally active in their careers to discuss their focuses on their chosen areas of study. To further education and knowledge on both hands of the connection between student and mentor.
The mentorship program is available to students in a long term or short-term basis.
The long-term program is set to last for a maximum period of six months. If students are looking for a shorter mentoring period, then there is a single-time meeting option available with a mentor to discuss or ask certain questions.
Emily Sandvall, associate director of undergraduate programs in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, has been essential in developing this mentorship program. The relationships to be built through this program are meant to make the lives for both sides of the connections much easier.
“[Our] hope is to create events mentors and mentees to go attend together … [The program is] built to be flexible for both mentors and mentees,” Sandvall said.
Though there are other programs available at Baylor that can connect a wide variety of mentors to students of all majors, this program has been specifically established for those studying Engineering and Computer Science.
Jill Anderson, director of marketing and communications in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, helped make the mentors more accessible to the students.
“We thought it was really important for our students to be able to connect to alumni who are in those specific industries,” Anderson said.
Anderson said alumni, faculty and staff were able to sign up 19 days before the program opened to students so there would be a wider pool of mentors available for the students to choose from.
The program can be mutually beneficial for both the students and the mentors involved. Though the program is centrally student-driven, because it is important for the students to have someone in their careers to look up to, the mentors themselves could find their own merits to being involved with this program.
“It’s a way that they can give back to Baylor and give back to student experience or maybe fill up a way that they felt during their college experience, to provide that connection and advice and support,” Anderson said.
Over 50 mentors are signed on to the program since it has opened to the alumni, faculty and staff earlier this month. It will be open to students on Jan. 29.
