New Mentorship Program for First Year and Second Year Students
By: Kellie Furman, HBHESA ChairMoving to a new city. Meeting new people. Starting at a new school. Trying to navigate a new environment. Starting your first year in graduate school. These are all intimidating experiences that many of us have endured at some point in our lives. And a little help can ease the transitions and make a stressful situation more manageable. This was the rationale behind the development of a new mentorship program between new incoming first year HBHE students and the veteran second year HBHE students. Just as the lyrics of the classic Beatles song states, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
HBHESA board members often serve as resources of information and tips for both prospective and incoming new students. Past board members have provided helpful and valuable advice to many students, myself included. Implementing a mentor program was a way to formalize these connections and provide a way for first and second year students to meet and interact as well. Several other SPH programs also have mentor programs for first years and second years, such as Health Management and Policy and Epidemiology. The success of these programs was also an impetus for the HBHE venture.
For the inaugural year of the program, there are 12 second year mentors and 34 first year mentees. Thus, each second year student has two or three first year mentees. Initial connections were established through emails and, from then on, each mentor-mentee relationship becomes unique and guided by the direction the pair agrees upon. HBHESA will also sponsor a mentor-mentee event in early November to further facilitate the program and to thank everyone for being involved. Both the success and interest garnered this year show this is a program to continue for future years.
