When Southern Adventist University begins a new academic year, incoming students have access to many resources meant to help them accustom themselves to the university, like the Southern Mentor program. Southern Adventist University’s website describes the mentors as “fellow students who have been at Southern for at least a year or two and who know how to successfully navigate the university.”
Ever since the mentor program was picked up by Renita Moore, First Year Experience coordinator, in 2008, she’s been able to observe growth within the program as well as its positive impact on students.
According to Moore and Chris Hansen, director of Institutional Research, the university’s freshman retention rates were at a percentage in the high 60’s when Moore first took charge of the program but rose to 81% in 2021. Moore told the Accent that the mentor program began with the expectation of lasting one semester but has now lasted for 15 years with no signs of stopping.
The First Year Experience office has worked hard to accommodate and improve its mentor program for the increasing number of students coming each year. Moore told the Accent that the program started out with 30 student mentors but now has more than 50. The office has also extended the program from one semester to two. Before Moore became the head of First Year Experience, mentors were unpaid, but now mentors are paid between an average of eight to 12 hours per week, depending on their class size. Though the program itself is expanding, the responsibilities of the mentors have always focused on the same thing: the wellbeing of the students.
In an interview with both Moore and Emily Raimundo, a senior social work major who is now the coordinator of the mentor program, each stated that mentors guide students emotionally and point them toward resources Southern Adventist University offers.
“Our mentors are our eyes and ears outside of the classroom,” Moore said. “They are another layer to help support our new students on campus, to help them acclimate and to be successful in their first year on campus. So the role of a mentor is to befriend them, to guide them, lead them, encourage them, help them not make some of the same mistakes they may have made.”
Raimundo added, “The mentors connect freshmen and new transfer students with resources on campus which they might not know about, such as counseling and First Year Advising. Students are more likely to take advice from them than the faculty.”
First Year Experience ran a mentor program evaluation survey in the winter semester of 2022, which showed that new students chose to take advantage of academic advising, tutoring and campus ministries more than other campus resources as a result of their mentor’s suggestions.
According to Moore and Raimundo, mentors “have weekly staff meetings, attend Southern Connections, have weekly meetings with the mentees, fill out weekly reports and plan social activities.”
Raimundo told the Accent that the mentors establish a connection with their mentees by spending quality time with them.
While the job requires a lot from its staff, Moore and her team at First Year Experience try to support their mentors. The office has weekly staff meetings and an open-door policy for their mentors.
“We have weekly staff meetings to debrief their work, to grow professionally, build or hone their interpersonal skills, to connect with other mentors, share ideas, communicate and tell us what they need,” Moore said.
Jeremy Ramirez, sophomore animation major, told the Accent that without the proper time management skills, becoming a mentor can be overwhelming. As a mentor of 15 new students this semester, he found himself falling behind in classes and even considered leaving the position. However, he felt drawn to the calling of mentorship.
“I got burnt out pretty easily,” Ramirez said. “But it’s also a good thing that the job is super rewarding because it balances itself out.”
After speaking with the First Year Experience office, they were able to reorganize his schedule, and Ramirez decided to continue being a mentor.
What Ramirez and many other mentors find attractive about the job is the connection they can develop with the incoming students and the skills they can learn.
Delano Mattox, senior fine arts major, has been a mentor for two years. He told the Accent that he’s seen the impact he’s made on students.
“I definitely have had mentees come up to me and thank me for the stuff I’ve done,” Mattox said. “Some of my mentees from last year are now mentors and have complimented me on stuff, so that’s a nice feeling to have.”
He added that becoming a mentor helped him develop more interpersonal skills.
“It’s pushed my limits of what I thought I could do socially,” he said. “ [It] definitely got me out of my comfort zone, got me better at being a leader without being too headstrong. It’s taught me humility, and it’s taught me time management.”
