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The 2006-2007 St. Mary’s Academy Alumna-Student Mentorship program has begun for the year and fruitful relationships are already beginning to blossom. Twenty nine students have been paired with an alumna of St. Mary’s in a mentoring relationship designed to provide support, guidance, and a non-judgemental adult friendship. This program is intended to be a leadership mentoring program that encourages each student to expand her vision of her potential in the future.
This year’s mentors have expertise in a wide variety of career fields including law, medicine, journalism, architecture, education, design, real estate, business, engineering, psychology, and more. All of the mentors are caring, committed individuals who graduated from St. Mary’s and wish to share their time and life’s experiences with a young woman whose world is just beginning to unfold.
Credit is not offered for participation in the mentorship program but students and mentors are required to have at least two hours of interaction each month throughout the school year. Participants often times simply meet for coffee or lunch. They talk, go to art galleries, or shopping malls. The student may choose to job-shadow her mentor for a day or the mentor may support her student by watching a play or game at St. Mary’s. The activity itself is not nearly as important as the relationship that grows and the wisdom that is shared between the two.
After a year of mentoring in this program, one mentor said of her student, “She is an inspiring person. Her youth reminds me of the experience I’ve gained in life- from just living and working – so I feel I have something to give in my own way. She makes me laugh – and I love hearing about how she lives her life and what the high school experience is like for her.”
Students who have participated in the program in the past say that the mentoring relationship provided a new perspective, an adult female role model in addition to their moms. One young woman said that she gained insight into the person she could someday be and what she could achieve. Others said they received guidance, inspiration, and friendship.
If you have any questions or need for information please contact St. Mary's Director of Alumnae Development Stephanie Davis '89 at (503) 721-7751.
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