|
February 14, 2003
Apply
to be a Take the Lead Mentor by March 7
by Nina Akerley ’04,
Take the Lead mentor
How
often do you find a conference center filled with some of the
best and the brightest high school students from around the nation—right
in your backyard? Or have the opportunity to be a part of an eclectic
environment that sparks empowerment, activism, and enthusiasm
for making a difference? Mount Holyoke students have experienced
all this and more as Take the Lead mentors. You can too, if you
apply to the mentor program by March 7.
| 
Photo:
Ben Barnhart
Mentor
Shannon Lenz ’03
|
Next month, the Weissman
Center for Leadership’s Speaking, Arguing, and Writing (SAW)
Program will begin selecting MHC students to take part in the
College’s highly successful Take the Lead leadership program
for high school young women, which will be held on campus October
2–5. The four-day conference for high school juniors includes
workshops, activities, and guest speakers.
Each Mount Holyoke leadership mentor receives special training
and is carefully paired with a high school participant based on
shared interests. The mentor uses her leadership skills to provide
encouragement and support for the participant, as the pair works
together to develop and implement a successful action plan for
an issue of concern to the participant. Past projects have been
centered around issues ranging from prejudice and environmental
degradation to violence and poverty.
As part of the program, mentors host their Take the Lead participant
in their residence halls during the four days of the conference
and accompany them to select lectures by returning alumnae. In
addition to attending one-on-one planning sessions with their
participant, mentors will keep in touch via email and continue
their supportive relationship after the program’s completion.
All mentors are able to enjoy Take the Lead training sessions,
workshops, and guest speakers and will receive a gift certificate
for the Odyssey Bookshop.
Mentors find that they derive as many benefits from the program
as the high school students do. “Being a Take the Lead mentor
gave me the opportunity to explore my strengths and limitations,”
said mentor Judy Tan ’03. “It was a tremendously empowering
experience to work with a bright, hopeful young woman to achieve
her goals and to know and believe that together, in a mentorship
relationship, anything is possible.”
Susan Pliner, acting
director of SAW, heads up Take the Lead’s mentor recruitment
and training process. “I am continually inspired and impressed
by MHC students who become Take the Lead mentors,” she said.
“The mentors demonstrate excellence in mentoring by role
modeling the importance of both intellectual and passionate engagement.
Take the Lead mentors are amazing women who are creative, imaginative,
inquisitive, encouraging, compassionate, intelligent—and
most of all leaders.”
How to Apply
All MHC first-years, sophomores, and juniors who will be on campus
next fall and are committed to developing their own leadership
skills and those of others are invited to apply to become a Take
the Lead mentor. This year, applications are available online
at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/saw,
and students are strongly encouraged to use this convenient method.
Applications, which are due by March 7, are also available, and
may be handed in, at the SAW office in Porter Hall. Interviews
will commence during the last week of March. Students will be
notified as to whether they have been selected to be one of the
forty mentors needed for the program during the first week of
April. Fifteen alternates will also be chosen. Those selected
to become mentors and alternates are required to attend a half-day
training session on September 20.
e
counter is
896
|
