While there are a few geniuses among us, the rest of us have to work hard to do well in school. Remembering that studying and test-taking are skills that can and need to be learned sometimes helps. Getting a BMCC peer mentor helps even more.
Peer mentors are students, who have learned how to succeed academically — sometimes in spite of many personal and financial obstacles. In fact, some mentors started out as poor students and figured out how to change their study habits so as to excel.
In 1998, the BMCC college-wide retention task force developed a series of recommendations in establishing the peer-mentoring program at BMCC/CUNY. It was decided then that the main objective would be to “identify students who have been successful in meeting the challenges of college and who can share what they have learned with others.”
Dr. Marilyn Riley-Hodge, Director of Counseling and Advisement and head of the peer-mentoring program, works with the academic advisement office to match up mentors and mentees, most often according to students’ majors and backgrounds.
“It’s important to remember that this is not a tutoring program,” Hodge explains. “I look to find positive role models who’ll go above and beyond that. A peer mentor sometimes acts as a student advocate—someone who will step in and intervene with a professor on behalf of a student, who’s trying but simply can’t grasp what’s being taught. Teaching fellow students how to manage their academic careers is also very important and high on the list of a mentor’s priorities.”
Who are BMCC’s ‘mentees’? What do you do if you want the help of a mentor?
Mentees are students who:
-Are suffering academically and/or are on academic notice
-Have problems at home
-Need help creating useful study habits
Students who want to be paired up with a mentor should visit the Counseling and Advisement Center (Room S330) and ask for a “Mentee Application.”
Who are BMCC’s mentors? What do you do if you are interested in becoming one?
Those who are chosen as mentors are students who’ve shown they possess academic expertise and trustworthiness. They are also caring, reliable and skilled in the areas of time management, interpersonal communication, and relaying how to create better study habits. BMCC’s peer mentors are disciplined and motivated.
Prospective peer mentors are interviewed for the program every term, immediately after registration. Only honor students can apply to become mentors. A mailing goes out to all students who possess a GPA of 3.0 and carry a course load with a minimum of 24 credits. The mailing usually consists of approximately 3,000 people.
What kind of training is given to mentors, and what kind of services do mentors provide?
-Listening skills development
-Communication skills development
-Interviewing skills development
-Tolerance and empathy development
-Appropriate feedback training
-Self-awareness development to see what qualities have benefited the mentor’s own academic career
-Review of academic success strategies
-Discussion of the impact of culture on one’s behavior, attitudes and values.
-Assistance with tests and term papers
-Study, note-taking and critical-thinking skills
-Time management, organizational skills and prioritizing
-Networking for academic and career enhancement
-Projection and calculation of grades needed in order to get back to an acceptable academic level
-Training as to how to serve as a friend in times of need and one who makes appropriate referrals (counseling, tutoring, etc.)
How often do mentors and mentees meet?
They must meet at least two hours per week. Mentors must also attend the required training sessions, leadership development seminars and supervision sessions twice per month.
How many mentees does one mentor work with?
Each mentor is assigned a maximum of two mentees in his/her major curriculum.
What is the peer mentoring club, and who are the leaders?
Saint Hung is the president of the Peer Mentoring Club, which overlaps with the academic program in terms of its goals and aims. The club organizes fun and enlightening events that pertain to the organization’s mission of helping at-risk students fulfill their course requirements.
“We enrich the mentors’ time at school and refine their study skills with the hopes that it trickles down to the mentees,” Hung said. “We’ve got lots of camaraderie. We commiserate about the stress and the obstacles of being a mentor. Getting together also helps mentors to relax. We work hard in school and out,” Hung explained. “That’s why we take lots of trips – to build personal relationships that help us wind down.”
Francine Foote is the Vice President of the Peer Mentoring Club. Her mother, also a BMCC student and peer mentor, suggested that Francine become a mentor herself. So far, she’s thrilled to have been recruited.
“I’m really glad my mother talked me into it,” said Foote. “I think mentors can sometimes be even more effective than teachers. There’s a unique perspective in being a student that even the best teachers sometimes forget. We can better relate to the mentees’ problems.”
Francine Foote hopes to be accepted at either SUNY Binghamton or Stonybrook. Saint Hung has his own finance-related business and recently won top prize in the USA Today All Academic Team.
Peer Mentoring Club Events for the rest of the spring 2006 term:
March 11: Historical Society’s Slavery Exhibit
March 22: Columbia University Info Session
March 29: How to Get an “A” Workshop 1
April 1: How to Get an “A” Workshop 1
April 5: GPA Day
April 14-16 Trip to Washington
April 26: Interview Technique Workshop
May 3 & 10: Leadership Development Training
May 6: Community Service Outreach Event
May 26: Award Ceremony & International Feast
