Mentors are considered counselors who give advice from their own personal knowledge and experiences; people to admire. They are personal guides who assist and provide valuable information and insight on life’s situations and their possible outcomes.
For students, a mentor is there to not only guide them through classes and homework, but to help them achieve their dreams and goals. Every student should make an effort to find a connection with a professor, counselor or administrator. It’s the people like them that can help students find their way through the stressful and unsure moments that make up a college career.
According to Mentor.org, a national mentor organization, mentors can be beneficial to younger adults and make them feel as though there is an “adult who cares about them and their future.”
For anyone who is in college or deciding to begin attending college, having a mentor in the career one chooses is a good way to stay focused.
The website also explains that mentors can beneficial to a student’s education, work and day-to-day life.
Connecting-Generations.org, a nationwide mentor program, said in their statewide statistics report, during 2009 and 2010, that mentoring increases self-confidence in students, and that 96 percent of their mentors saw improvement in their mentees.
The website also reported that same percentage wanted mentors for their following years.
As long as a mentee is willing to listen and learn, they will be able to take on different tasks. Students are mentees: sponges ready to absorb information.
Students appreciate mentors because they provide firsthand knowledge from their experiences.
They are able to assist students in their education, profession and day-to-day life, according to Mentor.org.
There are many educators throughout EC that play an important role in the lives of students. One in particular, has touched the lives of many of the editorial board.
Professor Jolene Combs was a big part of the journalism department here.
She was motivating and helped numerous students not only to succeed in journalism, but to be successful in life.
Like any mentor should, she led by example. With an unwavering love for journalism, her spirit and positive attitude was infectious. There was no such thing as a question too small, or a worry a too big for her to answer and handle.
After Combs died suddenly this summer, her students were shocked to have lost an important professor, who not only taught, but cared for the well being of her students.
Combs introduced her students to journalism as more than writing, but as a possible career path. She influenced her students to be more than exceptional.
She is one example of a professor who took teaching to another level, one that helped others, mostly students, join the ranks of professionals.
There are many ways to succeed as a college student, but the help of someone who’s been there before will definitely make a difference. They know what it takes, and they’ll make sure you get there.
