IE's Mentors of the Month!
To Welcome the Month of December,
The Stork’s team wants to congratulate the October Mentors of the Month for their ongoing achievements. In IE, joining the Mentorship Society is an optional extra-curricular activity to serve guidance and contribution to first year students in order for them to make the most of their freshman experiences. To become a Mentor, you first need to be a Mentee. You are a mentee when you apply in the program to have a Mentor. Many Mentor-Mentee relationships continue throughout a student’s time at IE and, most importantly, if you enjoyed the experience you have the opportunity of becoming a Mentor in future editions.
To become Mentor of the Month, a list of strong qualities have to be identified by your Mentees. It is not an easy duty as time and dedication has to be given. They are counting with you, as a leader, to guide them and help them throughout their fresher days. The behavior you have to face with your mentees is one in which you communicate with them on a regular basis by asking them questions and providing them advisory help. It is very important to meet them so they can feel familiarity in order to make yourself available and approachable. In other words, you must use a friendly, proactive and enthusiastic approach.
For IE University, it is a real honor to have students that devote themselves into making other students experience better. In the month of October, 6 mentors were selectively chosen as they embraced the before outlined skills. They are: Nana Kosugiyama, Clemente Gilardini, Alessia Ricchiuti, Saina Abdollahzadeh, Farah Zakri and Peter de Jounge. Insights were given by 3 of these students with detailed information answering what it takes for them to be a good mentor, what further advice would they give to their mentees and what did they do to become Mentors of the Month.
Peter de Jounge described that for him being a mentor meant “being the person freshers can relate to and the one that tries to make them feel as if they have someone to reach out to” He also added that “Mentors should try to help Mentees integrate” as coming to University is a very big challenge that each one of us faces in a different way. In the end, it is about providing help, if needed, to make the transition process as frictionless as possible.
One advice Nana Kosugiyama considers the most important advice she gives as a Mentor is to be themselves. She quotes “ IE University welcomes students from all over the world, which makes university life a lot of fun.” She wants her mentees to remember the importance of taking decisions depending on what they really want and to never forget their core values.
Being Mentor of the Month for some does not require different challenges than the ones they are facing already as advisers. For Alessia Ricchiuti it came as a complete surprise. She explained, “I was just available at all times, and tried to be as understanding and friendly as possible, whilst giving my mentees space to grow on their own too.” She even added that she even found it challenging as she had a group of 5 mentees.
Experience and fun comes from both sides when having a Mentor-Mentee relationship. In this case, we want to congratulate these 6 Mentors for their dedication. It is important to highlight their efforts come out of free will as being a Mentor is not a mandatory activity. Moreover, qualities such as leadership need to be strongly identified if you wish to become the next Mentor of the Month.
NANA Kosugiyama:
1. What does being a mentor mean to you?
Being a friend of mentees and building a comfortable relationship. 2. What is the most important advice you gave to your mentees?
Be yourself. - IE University welcomes students from all over the world, which makes university life a lot of fun. On the other hand, since everyone's perception is different, some people might be influenced by others easily. Therefore, I recommended my mentees not to forget their core values and be themselves. 3. What steps did you take to become Mentor of the Month?
I tried to contact my mentees individually for the first two months since I wanted to make me be seen as a friend rather than a mentor. Moreover, communicating with my mentor leader, Rahael, helped me a lot to work since even though I was a mentee last year, there were many concerns, and she was the one who helped me to overcome those problems. 4. Ask one of your mentees to describe you in a sentence.
“Nana is an amazing mentor and friend that is kind, generous and always there when I need her!” (Natalie Vaccaro) 5. One fun fact/anecdote you share with your mentees? I went to mountain party with one of my mentees but I got lost in the mountains with another mentor…
Peter de Jounge:
1) Being a mentor means to be a person that the freshers can relate to and a person that tries to make the mentees feel that they have someone to reach out to. The mentor should try to help the mentees integrate - some people have few problems getting used to life in university whilst some people might have more trouble with the new Social environment and appreciate a more inclusive mentor. In the end this is what it is - a person that should be there if needed, to make the transition process as frictionless as possible.
2) Most important advice is basically to not get rushed up by things such as study pace, social life etc. Many feel that they have to throw themselves into all the social activities in order to meet new people, whilst at the same time putting a lot of academic pressure on themselves. My advice is stay calm and do it your won pace. Of course I think that we should perform well and try to be social, but in the beginning it is easy that it goes too far. In the end most of us feel the same, and it takes some time to adapt to the new university life.
Alessia Ricciutti:
1. What does being a mentor mean to you
It is the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life, even if for a short amount of time. And hopefully to make some friends too!
2. What is the most important advice you gave to your mentees?
Mostly practical stuff, like housing and cleaning stuff for apartments, boring things... Being a third year, I had a bit of of knowledge to share, all the do's and dont's when hiring someone to clean you house and maybe even what are the best ways to solve conflicts within the house.
3. What steps did you take to become Mentor of the Month?
To be perfectly honest, I was surprised. Wasn't really planning on it, and I definitely didn't set any goals to achieve this... I guess I was just available at all times, and tried to be as understanding and friendly as possible, whilst giving my mentees space to grow on their own too. I had 5 mentees, so keeping up with them was a bit of a challenge, but they were all very nice and supportive of our little team!
4. Ask one of your mentees to describe you in a sentence
Bibiana Bartschova -" My mentor is always there for us and helps us to adjust to the community, she is the BEST!"
5. One fun fact/anecdote you share with your mentees?
Well, this is kinda sad for us but it's fun for whoever is reading. I decided to organize a big pre drink at my place so that my mentees would have the opportunity to meet some second and third years. They were encouraged to bring friends so that we could all get to know each other. It was big deal, many people. However, me being a third year and not having the party spirit I used to have, I fell asleep at my own pre drink. The next morning they all told me that they had a lot of fun though, so that's the silver lining I guess!
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