HUMAN 3LM3 Mentorship Reflection #3
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School
McMaster University *
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Course
3LM3
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by danielacarvalho
M
ENTORSHIP
R
EFLECTION
#3 – F
INAL
M
ENTORSHIP
R
ELFECTION
H
UMAN
3
LM
3 – F
OUNDATIONS
OF
L
EADERSHIP
Due
Friday, April 3rd, 2020
Name
Daniela Carvalho (400078702)
Q1 – How do you feel about the mentorship component of the course ending so abruptly? How were you originally planning on wrapping up your time with your mentees?
Unfortunately, the mentorship component ended so abruptly, as I still had a lot in store for my mentees and I. At my next mentorship meeting, I planned on helping my mentees compose an email to send to their Professor of choice for them to attend a lecture. It was upsetting not being able to do this, as many of my mentees were looking forward to this experience. In addition, I was also looking forward to the other activities that I had in mind to do with my mentees, along with the final mentorship meeting which would involve games and snacks. Overall, these circumstances made me very upset, as I was unable to say goodbye to my mentees in person and wish them all the best in their future undergraduate career.
Q2 – Do you feel that your mentees have achieved their goals? Have you achieved a personal goal through this experience? Did you accomplish something that you didn’t initially set out to accomplish?
Although my mentees were able to meet new people and establish new friendships, which is very rewarding to have been a part of, I feel as if more could have come out of this opportunity, if time permitted. Particularly, I feel as though attending a lecture in their prospective program would have benefitted them immensely and would give them the chance to experience what their future at McMaster University would be if they are granted entry in their program. Overall, I at least know that they enjoyed our weekly meetings, and hope the friendships they’ve made through this experience prevail moving forward.
In terms of the personal goals I have set, I feel as though I have achieved most of them. Although I wish I was able to help my mentees attend a lecture of their program, I believe I enabled them to act in other ways. For example, during our weekly activities, I made sure that all my mentees understood the rules of the game, and always encouraged them to volunteer and participate. I would also lead by example, and voluntarily participate in some activities to demonstrate how certain games worked. By doing so, I believe I encouraged them to be brave and take the risk of participating in group activities, even if they may have been shy.
Surprisingly, I accomplished something I did not anticipate going into this experience, and that is helping my mentees establish friendships and new connections. Although I initially set out the goal to facilitate group interactions, I was not expecting them to establish new friendships and was surprised to see this happen. Overall, I am very happy that this happened, as I feel that this made this mentorship opportunity a memorable one for them, as they were able to meet with and connect with new people
through this process.
Q3 – How was your mentorship experience overall? Did you connect with your mentees? Did it go as expected? Were there things you hoped turned out differently?
Overall, I enjoyed my mentorship experience. Although I hoped my mentees may have
been a bit more engaging and enthusiastic about our meetings, I still know they enjoyed being there as I often found them talking and laughing with one another. In addition, I was very happy that my mentees had a good sense of humour, as we were able to maintain a light and positive environment at all times, even amidst the unfortunate circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak. I do believe I was able to connect with my mentees. By the end of the mentorship experience, we were able to have conversations regarding both personal and everyday topics, which was great. In addition, we reached a point where my mentees felt comfortable asking me questions, whether for clarification or advice in general. Overall, I am very happy I was able to establish a connection with most of my mentees
and got to know them on a more personal level, as this made this experience that much more meaningful. In conclusion, my experience did not go as I had initially thought, as I had expected that my relationship with my mentees would be more task-
based. However, I am happy that we were able to establish a relationship-based connection that allowed us to talk about both personal and task-related topics.
Although my mentorship experience did turn out better than I expected, for the most part, I did wish one of my mentees continued to come to our mentorship meetings. One of my mentees stopped coming to our weekly meetings 2 weeks into the semester, and he had told me he was unable to keep showing up due to personal reasons. Although I understand that circumstances change, it would have been nice to
have my entire mentee group present every week to participate in our activities and fun games. In addition, I wish our mentorship opportunity was not cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak, as it was unexpected and unfortunate to have it end so abruptly.
Q4 – What key piece(s) of advice would you give a new mentor and why? If I were to advise a future mentor in the course, a few things come to mind. Firstly, I would encourage them to try to communicate with their mentees on a personal level and share stories from their past, as I did so, and this helped me establish a relationship and stronger connection with my mentees from the start. Secondly, I would tell them to encourage their mentees to participate in activities that may otherwise be seen as slightly challenging for them. For instance, when my group and I played Scategories during our second meeting, none of my mentees understood the game at first. However, after explaining things thoroughly, demonstrating how to play,
and encouraging them to participate, they ended up enjoying the game and wanting to play another round. Adding to this point, I would also encourage future mentors to thoroughly explain the rules and objectives of the activities they are doing, as it helps with understanding what the game is all about, and typically helps engage the mentees more, at least from my experiences. Lastly, I would encourage any future mentors to conduct activities and play games as a tutorial section as opposed to an individual group, as it made these activities more fun and interesting. I noticed that when we did things like a larger group, my mentees were more engaged and less hesitant to participate, as they didn’t feel under so much pressure.
Q5 – What else would you like us to know about your embedded mentorship experience? We are always looking for ways to improve the student experience and we value your feedback.
Although I was very grateful and happy with the group I had got, I felt as though I was not much help when it came to the academic side of things, as my mentees were in programs such as engineering, commerce, and computer science. Therefore, it would have been nice to have mentees that were interested in the Life Sciences program, as I feel like I would be more helpful and knowledgeable about the program given that I am currently in the program. That being said, I feel like I would be better able to answer any questions or offer valuable advice in terms of which courses to take, which
professors are good at teaching, etc.
In addition, I wouldn’t mind getting a larger group of mentees, as it would provide both
myself and each mentee more opportunities to make connections and establish friendships than with a smaller group.
Furthermore, it would have been a good idea to be provided with a weekly theme or topic to revolve activities around each week, as it would allow us to be creative with regards to each weekly target and would make every meeting unique and fun in a different way. If I were to go back and change one thing, it would be to come to each meeting with a more set in place plan or activity to do every week that would engage my mentees differently every week.
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