Sushma Chapagain, a first-year student leaning toward a sociology major, knows she wants to work for a non-governmental agency either here or abroad in the future.
But she’s not totally set on the details. “My career plans evolve quite a lot,” she says.
That’s why she is so interested in the Goucher Mentor Network, a joint pilot program from the Career Development Office (CDO) and the Office of Alumnae/i Affairs that matches alums with current students in mentoring relationships.
Sushma said she signed up for the program not just for the career advice, but also academic guidance. “I wanted to make connection with Goucher alumnae/i who shared similar academic interests,” she says. “They have already experienced what I am going through, or will be going through, regarding academic plans and campus involvement.”
Her mentor, Naomi Dreyer ’07, graduated from Goucher with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and anthropology and moved on to earn a master’s degree in education from Wheelock College in 2014. She’s now a special education teacher for fourth-graders in Boston public schools.
“I think this is great for students because it lets them talk to someone who walked in their shoes, had the same professors, and maybe even lived in the same dorm. Alumni mentors can be like a crystal ball to a student’s future, but they’re real,” said Casey Miller, associate director of alumae/i career planning in the CDO.
Miller, whose job was created in part to help launch the initiative, started the program the beginning of this semester. Among those mentors who have signed up are a legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate, an associate with the Rainforest Alliance, a Teach for America alum, a resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a manager of a winery tasting room in Northern Virginia, and a working actress.
Students can sift through mentors’ basic information, such as job title and place of employment, history, and their recommendations for what students should be involved in.
“We leave it up to the student to pick who they would like to be their mentor. They decide based on where they work or what their major was or what geographic region they’re in,” Miller says. “Everybody has something to offer.”
He adds students may even want to learn more about graduates with unconventional career paths, such as the art major who is now an accountant or the history major who is now associate dean at University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
All the mentors in the program were recommended by fellow alums, faculty, and staff. Miller said he reached out to the recommended graduates, and around 100 agreed to be involved, many willing to mentor more than one student. “We could potentially serve up to 175 students at a time,” he says.
There isn’t much structure to the program yet—mentors and mentees decide what will work for them. “I put them together then get out of the way and let them figure out the best way to connect,” Miller says.
For students to be involved, they must go to the CDO’s main webpage, click “Job/Internship Seeker,” select alumnae/i career volunteers, and they can go through the list of names. “All you have to do is send the mentor a message to get started,” he says. “Really, it’s as simple as it sounds.”
For alums interested in being involved, Miller encourages them to contact him at 410-337-3031 or casey.miller@goucher.edu. He says mentoring can be a powerful force for both a mentee and mentor. “I think mentors enjoy this program because it gives them a chance to meet students where they are and help them find answers to those tricky questions that crop up in college.”
Though she and her mentor are just getting started, Sushma says she’s excited for what she might learn in the relationship and called the program “unique and fruitful.” “I would suggest other students to take advantage of this,” she says.