Coming into LAS with a mentor and someone to turn to whenever you have any questions, whether they’re CMU related or not, is definitely a great thing. Your mentor is a great resource and another friendly face on campus. Personally, I am looking forward to getting to provide all of this to someone new, just as my mentor did for me. I think that being a mentor is a great opportunity to create and maintain your leadership skills. Obviously when you are a mentor you are expected to be there for your mentee, which definitely requires some leadership because you have to be able to take on that responsibility. Mentoring can be super fun, but it also has to maintain somewhat of a professional aspect too. I can’t wait to meet someone new who I can hopefully become close with and help whenever they need it.
My top four strengths, which are harmony, relator, includer, and positivity, all fall under the bigger category of relationship building. This category contains themes that help to build strong relationships and hold a team together. I think that my top four strengths fit perfectly into the idea of being a mentor. To me, it’s important that I form meaningful relationships with others. I strive to connect with people and believe that my strengths reflect that. For example, with my strength of relator, I look to find things that I have in common with people. If I can do this, then it provides at a minimum and good base to always return to when having a conversation with others. I can also use my strength of positivity to encourage and get people excited about things that they might be apprehensive about. My fifth theme is discipline, which falls into the bigger category of executing. The category of executing includes themes that help you make things happen and get things done. This theme will also be effective in helping me to not forget about my mentee as the year progresses. For example, the theme of discipline will help me to make sure I reach out to my mentee when necessary and also to respond and help them when they ask!
I think that one of the biggest and most important things about being a mentor is just to be open and friendly. Reaching out and letting others know that you’re there for them can go a long way. One of the biggest things that helped me to feel welcome to both CMU and LAS was the number of people who reached out to me to let me know they were there if I ever needed anything. It reassured me that LAS was a great place to be. One step I will take over the summer to ensure that I am ready to be an effective mentor is to connect with my co-mentor and other members of my cohort to bounce ideas and suggestions off each other. I believe that one of the best ways to learn and brainstorm new ideas is to see and listen to what others have been successful at or what hasn’t gone so well. I also think that it would be great to ask my mentor how she navigated being a mentor in the beginning. I think she could provide me with a lot of great information and insight.
Samantha McDonald 