MentHER kicked off its seventh year of building impactful relationships among women across different generations on Friday with a “speed dating”-style networking event at the College of Business and Economics.
The year-long mentoring program pairs professional businesswomen with eight female TU undergraduate business students like Alice George, a sophomore studying international business and international studies, who said she hopes to gain more than just professional advice from the program.
“[A mentor is] someone who can give me information and help when I need it, not just professionally but on a personal level,” she explained. “Because you need a mentor not just for your professional life, but for your own life too.”
The program goes beyond building one-on-one mentoring relationships. The TU students also mentor girls from a local high school who are interested in college, but aren’t entirely sure about how to get there. Lisa Michocki, the program director, says MentHER is a way to connect the different ages and generations all while furthering the cause of education and the importance professional, meaningful, and personal relationships between professionals and students.
“It’s really beneficial to the TU students,” she said. “They get to network with business professionals in their sophomore year and then continue to develop those relationships in their junior and senior years when they’re probably looking for internships [and] employment opportunities. It also gives them the opportunity to share the experiences they’ve had in college and high school with the high school students.”
“I like it because I get to help students that aren’t really sure about college… I feel college is important, so if they just have an idea of what could happen through [college], they could just be more motivated to go.” – Alice George
The TU students and their mentors will meet later this month for more professional development workshops. Later this fall, they’ll visit Randallstown High School to work with the high schoolers and host the high school students for a campus tour and workshops on applying to college and setting goals.
Judith Brantley, a sophomore studying accounting and finance, said she was most excited about getting to know the business professionals and getting to play the mentor role herself to high school girls.
“I think if [high school students] knew exactly how college went down, they wouldn’t see it as something so scary, which I think a lot of people do,” she said. ‘I think they think it’s a hopeless place, but it’s not. There are a lot of resources and a lot of people ready to help you.”
Learn more about MentHER.
2016-17 Participants
Mentors
Jennifer Harris, PepsiCo – Frito Lay
Maryanna McTighe, GlaxoSmithKline
Lisa Mpodin, Merrill Edge
Tracey Myers-Peterson, The Preston Group
Ashley Plack, Piccirilli Dorsey, Inc.
Susanne Wilson, T. Rowe Price
Lori Woznick, Merrill Edge
TU Students
Alice George, Business Administration, International Business
Dominique Hawkins, Business Administration, Management
Firdaws Khedir, Business Administration, Human Resource Management
Jamaya Allen, Accounting & Business Administration, Finance
Rachel Wasmer, e-Business & Business Administration, Marketing
Rediate Hailemeskel, Business Administration, Leadership & Management