Mentoring

One the most exciting opportunities that SEES offers its members is participation in the Peer Mentoring program. This program is designed to help incoming freshmen make a successful transition to the University. As a participant in the mentoring program, freshmen are matched with an upper-division SEES member who will serve as a mentor and provide insight into succeeding in college, as well as information about services available on campus. The mentoring program is set up for a year long interaction between freshmen and their mentors. During that year, freshmen mentees get to know one another, get to know the student mentors in SEES, and become a tight knit cohort, all while becoming integrated into the SEES community. The program also entails many activities and field trips, organized by the mentors. Participants in the mentoring program in the past have found the program to an integral part of their success during school. SEES members are encouraged to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

SEES Mentors (PDF) in the program also benefit from the activities throughout the year. Each spring, the SEES program hosts a social to introduce mentors to faculty and alumni who work in the field the students are pursuing. In doing so, SEES mentors have faculty and alumni as career mentors.

SEES Mentors (above) help first year college students in what is essentially the most critical time of a freshman's college career. Developing a sense of membership in the SEES community helps to interest, retain, motivate and prepare them for the challenges of college and ultimately, careers in the sciences.