Adjusting to varsity life could be tough for first-year college students, particularly these transferring away from house for the primary time or being the primary of their household to attend faculty.
Along with studying the way to navigate a brand new location and new schedules, in addition to managing the tutorial calendar, it will also be tough for college students to ask for assist or know the place to show.
To assist Augusta College college students be extra profitable proper from the beginning, the college is launching a brand new initiative this fall within the Jags4Jags Mentoring Program.
Two launch occasions are deliberate for the approaching weeks on the Summerville and Well being Sciences campuses. The primary occasion will likely be held on Monday twenty fourth April from 10am to 1pm on the Jaguar Scholar Actions Middle Breezeway. The second will likely be on Monday, Might 1 from 10:00 to 13:00 on the Training Commons of the Well being Sciences Campus.
The brand new program was launched by Amy Abdulovic-Cui, PhD, an affiliate professor within the Division of Organic Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Arithmetic.
Abdulovic-Cui is among the first two Provost School Fellows at Augusta College, and the brand new program is a part of her fellowship.
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“Once I was named one of many first Provost School Fellows, we had been supplied with an inventory of areas Augusta College needs to deal with to assist obtain our formidable imperatives, and scholar retention actually impressed me as a result of there may be a number of analysis and literature on the market on how peer-to-peer mentorship packages assist with retention and assist college students succeed,” Abdulovic-Cui mentioned. “When first yr college students stroll onto campus and are already paired with a mentor who has been by what they’re going by, they’ve a connection that varieties a powerful bond, a relationship and that helps with self-worth and will help college students be Extra profitable.”
In response to Abdulovic-Cui, analysis exhibits that when a scholar has between three and 5 interactions in any given month with a peer-to-peer mentor, they’re extra more likely to do higher academically and stay enrolled. In immediately’s world the place know-how provides individuals simpler entry to speak, these interactions do not need to be restricted to in-person ones; they will span a textual content message, a telephone name, a Groups or Slack chat, or any variety of different communication channels.
“Having somebody near you in age however even older the place you see a bit little bit of your self has been a confirmed and profitable manner for college students to need to keep in a faculty,” Abdulovic-Cui mentioned. “When somebody says one thing like, ‘I survived Biology 1107, and look, I am in medical college now, and that is the place you need to be,’ I believe it actually opens the eyes of youthful college students.”
One space the place college students are inclined to battle is understanding what assets can be found to them. Sources reminiscent of scholarships and different monetary help, assist providers reminiscent of writing and achievement facilities, and organizations for each private {and professional} improvement can generally appear out of attain for college students who could also be feeling overwhelmed. Having a peer-to-peer mentor who is aware of the way to navigate the faculty panorama will help a freshman tremendously, this system organizers mentioned.
“I’m enthusiastic about what this new mentorship program will supply, not solely to freshmen who will profit from having a mentor, but in addition to our older college students who will discover worth within the coaching they obtain and the experiences they share with first-year college students,” mentioned Neil J. MacKinnon, PhD, government vp for tutorial affairs and chancellor. “This program will improve all the scholar expertise right here at Augusta College by instilling extra of a way of group and household, and this in flip will assist with retention as we intention to strengthen our scholar inhabitants by retention.”
“As we proceed to work in the direction of our formidable imperatives, particularly 16,000 college students by 2030, one of the best ways to get there may be by retention,” mentioned Susan Davies, PhD, vp of the Division of Scholar Affairs and Enrollment. “It is vital that after a scholar commits to coming to AU, we decide to serving to them succeed, and that entails everybody, together with their fellow college students. We have now quite a few on-campus assets directed at scholar success, however first-year college students could be overwhelmed and should not know the place to show. These peer-to-peer mentorships construct robust relationships between our college students and it will assist them succeed.”
After rigorously researching the topic and a number of other organizations to assist AU, Abdulovic-Cui landed at Mentorship Collective.
“One of many nice issues about Mentorship Collective is that we’ve entry to the whole lot they’ve realized whereas serving to different faculties throughout the nation. They’ve already partnered with Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, and Georgia Gwinnett, so that they’re aware of the Georgia college system,” Abdulovic-Cui mentioned.
A brand new banner for all tutoring packages
Peer-to-peer mentorship is just not a brand new endeavor at Augusta College, as many educational packages require mentor hours and lots of scholar organizations goal peer-to-peer mentorship.
Jags4Jags will mark the primary time that every one the totally different mentorship packages will likely be below one banner. It is a strategy to not solely present new alternatives for college students who desire a mentor and people looking for to grow to be one, nevertheless it’s additionally a strategy to streamline current current mentorship packages.
“All through my time at Augusta College, I used to be a lead mentor for the African American Male Initiative (AAMI) and Multicultural Mentoring Program. As a mentor, I’ve had the extraordinary privilege of welcoming and constructing a group with first yr college students. I beloved having the chance to share my knowledge and assist with college students and information them by certainly one of life’s biggest transitions,” mentioned Justice Sconiers, a younger chemistry scholar from Grayson, Georgia who can be Vice President of Each Nation Campus “In my freshman yr, I used to be capable of attend AAMI and had a fantastic mentor who helped me settle into my new atmosphere, make new friendships, and discover my place at AU.”
“Having a mentor has offered me with a neater transition into faculty. As somebody who attends faculty two hours away from house and hasn’t had associates from highschool who additionally attend AU, having a mentor has allowed me extra time to regulate to varsity,” mentioned Tyler Man, a psychology main on the freshman yr from Macon, Ga. “I used to be additionally capable of have somebody I may have a dialog with and vent to after I had issues to do. I strongly consider that mentorship packages are very helpful to first yr college students attending the faculty.
How Jags4Jags will work
The Jags4Jags Mentoring Program enhances the brand new scholar expertise by connecting first yr college students one-on-one with a peer mentor. College students are paired with somebody invested of their success: somebody who is able to pay attention, encourage, assist overcome challenges, and acknowledge alternatives. College students will be taught what to anticipate at school, the way to meet challenges, achieve profession recommendation and beneficial insights, whereas mentors will construct their networks and develop the talents to grow to be higher professionals and leaders.
Whereas undergraduate college students are particularly inspired to grow to be mentors, there are additionally many membership alternatives for graduate, skilled, and postdoctoral college students. All college students are inspired to take part within the Jags4Jags mentorship program to create lasting connections that facilitate the expansion and improvement of all concerned, mentioned program leaders.
“This can be a wonderful means for college students to achieve service hours and management abilities, and now that we’ve entry to Mentorship Collective assets, all of our present scholar mentors will obtain the identical coaching, that means everybody will likely be on the identical web page “, Abdulovic -Cui mentioned.
About Collective Mentorship
Mentorship Collective was based in 2014 by James Lu Morrissey and Jackson Boyar. Initially, they started by doing professional bono work with Boston regional universities, designing mentorship packages for worldwide college students. Over time, these early companions inspired James and Jackson to think about supporting extra various scholar populations.
Immediately, Mentorship Collective companions with greater than 180 organizations to offer mentorship supplies and abilities. Their mission assertion states: “Relationships form the expertise and outcomes of a scholar’s journey by greater training. Some college students will discover these relationships between school and advisors; nonetheless, many extra will battle to create lasting relationships that drive scholar success and open doorways. At Mentor Collective, we search to make life-changing relationships a characteristic of each scholar’s faculty expertise. To attain this imaginative and prescient, we companion with forward-thinking establishments which can be dedicated to fairness, inclusion, and relationship-focused training.”
