As the semester draws to a close, I always get weirdly sentimental about the things I’ve accomplished and the support system I’ve had around me to help me finish another round of courses. This year, as I finish my junior year, I’m feeling more melancholy about my college experience because my biggest mentor at the university is leaving and will no longer be on campus teaching, nor in the state of Wyoming.
My mentor was my Honors professor both semesters of my freshman year and has since been a teacher I visited regularly over the duration of my college experience for advice, guidance and updates on my accomplishments. From my very first days of college to now, this professor has been nothing but a huge help to me in my learning experience and improving my skills as a writer, a profession I hope to have for the majority of my adult life. He was a teacher that went above and beyond to care for his students, check in on their progress in all of their courses and even making sure they were having a positive college experience outside of schoolwork. This is something you don’t really see very often– at least hardly any professors I’ve had go an extra step to know their students.
My mentor has been there for me since day one and has always made sure that his students are taken care of. Him leaving the university and no longer being an office away to give me pep talks through the stress of college not only makes me extremely sad and scared for senior year because he won’t be here, but it also gives me a chance to tell anyone reading this that it is SO helpful to find a mentor in college, no matter how close you are to graduation. A mentor can be a professor, staff or faculty member or even a counselor, as long as it’s someone you trust.
College can bring in a lot of stress in and out of school work. Sometimes, it can be so overwhelming to the point where talking to friends doesn’t help because they’re dealing with the exact same issues. The great part about having a mentor on campus is not only the fact that you can vent to them, but they’ve been through it, too. They can provide you with some valuable advice and even relate to you on the things you are dealing with to help make the weight on your shoulders a little easier to carry. My mentor helped me through a lot of confidence issues when it came to sharing my writing and I don’t know if I’d be as confident with showing people my articles as I am now without their advice. Having someone with a different perspective on college life can be super helpful when dealing with everything at once.
A lot of times, I would go to my mentor’s office because I was really overwhelmed with classwork and all of my other outside stressors that I had to deal with alongside deadlines. I would go because I knew he would build me up rather than tearing me down. Sometimes, hearing “you’re doing great!” or “I’m proud of you!” make all the difference in facing those horrifying assignments. Having a mentor to go to for reassurance makes a huge difference when things become too much to handle. They can even be like, “When I was in school…” which sounds like a drag, but it’s actually super helpful because they can be like “I did the same thing!”
Along with this, mentors can give you so many connections and resources for career opportunities, scholarships and even things as simple as letters of recommendation. Having a connection with a person involved in the university is a huge deal when it comes to this part of your degree. They can give you job listings they’ve heard about or scholarships they think you should apply for or will know you well enough to write an *amazing* letter of rec for that big interview you landed. Making connections is a huge part of college success and mentors are the perfect way to get them. They can lead you to a lot of great opportunities that you don’t want to miss out on.
Another amazing thing about mentors is that they might be able to help you with school work, even if it isn’t their class or subject they teach. With my mentor, it worked out that I’m in a writing heavy major and they were an English teacher, so I would sometimes bring in essays or other things I’m working on and get some advice about it. He would provide some insight and help me improve my writing for the class or article, whatever it was. Now, I’m not discouraging the idea that you should go to your actual professor’s office hours for their assignments, but sometimes, if it’s small things that you want to talk about with someone you’re comfortable with, a mentor is super helpful. The same advice goes for resumes, cover letters, things like that.
As my mentor leaves the university, I get really sad about losing the ability to go to their office and talk, but I’m also so grateful that I had such a great person to go to for anything and everything. Knowing that some of the faculty on campus supports you is a nice feeling and really makes me feel like I’m valuable as a student here at UW. My mentor has seen so many things happen to me over my college experience, from back surgery to getting my first nationally published article to planning a trip to Australia. They have helped me every step of the way and have told me they’re proud of me to get me through the stress of finals. Though they will be gone next year, I am so glad I found a mentor while I was a student to make the rough parts of college a little easier to handle. With that being said, try to find a mentor, it really is worth it for you and your mental state.