COSAM News Articles 2014 September PASS Orientation/Training held September 21st

PASS Orientation/Training held September 21st

Published: 09/22/2014

PASS, our peer mentoring program, held training on September 21, 2014. The mission of PASS is to Promote Academic Success for students in sciences and mathematic by providing a healthy learning and social environment for minority freshmen paired with upper classmen in their major areas for a smooth transition into college. The program provides a “family” away from home environment to help freshmen reach their potential in order to increase the retention rate of minority students at Auburn University. Mentors were welcomed by Dr. Bianca Evans. The mentors were asked to introduce themselves by giving the following information: name, hometown, major, and describe their expectations of the mentoring program. The mentors were asked to discuss their previous experiences as a mentee or mentor. Questions included: What was your experience like as a mentee/mentor? Was the experience positive or negative? What types of activities did you and your mentor/mentee participate in? These questions exposed answers of some positive and negative aspects of the mentor/mentee relationship. The discussions lead to addressing some of the common issues students face and the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship. Dr. Evans stressed the importance of helping these freshmen with the transition from high school to college.

The Mentor Training manual was reviewed by the mentors under the leadership of Kristine Ramsay and Dedrick Ford. The mission of PASS Mentoring Program was read and Ms. Ramsay emphasized the importance of fulfilling the mission of the program and discussed the roles and responsibilities of being a mentor. This included committing to being a mentor for the academic year, attending scheduled meetings, contacting your mentee at least once a week (Ex. Facebook, email, text message, etc.), meeting your mentee face-to-face a least once a month (Ex. Lunch, football game, etc.), and documenting meetings with mentee(s) using the activity sheet. Mentors reviewed the activity sheets and due dates. Sheets are to be turned in to the Office of Diversity by the listed due dates. Mr. Ford discussed the skills for effective mentors, the importance of confidentiality, and asked the mentors to briefly read over the manual to see if they had any questions. The question/ answer session ended the review of the training manual.

Mentees were assigned to their mentor. Each mentor/mentee pair introduced themselves to each other. After brief introductions, the mentor/mentee pair completed the “Getting to Know You Activity” which consisted of 10 thought provoking questions that allowed the student to learn more about each other. Answers were then shared on a voluntary basis. The meeting was wrapped up by thanking everyone for their participation and encouraging the mentee/mentor pair to continue getting to know each other. The meeting adjourned with refreshments following training. Students and staff helped in the cleanup effort after having refreshments.

PASS Mentor Training was very well attended with a total of 55 students and 3 staff. Attendees included 19 freshman, 12 sophomores, 13 juniors, and 11 seniors.