Group Mentoring

The group mentoring aspect allowed me to use a group of people as a sounding board to explore ideas such as switching majors. They helped give me the courage to take steps towards making this big change so early in my college career. Not only did they act as a sounding board, but the mentors, as well as the other mentees, gave me valuable advice from their personal experiences.  This group also helped push me to keep trying and to do my best, even when I felt defeated.  The support and feedback they offered me helped me to become more resilient and more motivated.

In the group mentoring sessions, we also explored concepts that are valuable to leadership. Such concepts included the importance of empathy, battling negativity, and communication in the workplace.  We heard first hand accounts of how miscommunications can affect a workplace and how to prevent miscommunications as best as possible.  We explored how negativity can hurt your leadership potential, as no one wants to follow someone who never sees the positives, as well as how empathy can help you to become a more effective leader by developing a true bond with others.

Overall, the group mentoring helped me lean how to learn the importance of different attributes to leadership potential and even helped develop some of those attributes in myself.

Individual Mentoring

On-Campus Mentor

By the time that I had found my first individual mentor, I had already decided to at least take classes to explore my new major, which is Animal Science.  For that reason, I chose a faculty member in this field. My on-campus mentor is Dr. Liara Gonzalez who works in the Intestinal Regenerative Medicine Lab. She is helping me to develop my major and concentration by encouraging me to get as many unique experiences as possible in hopes of defining my passion.

Not only is she helping me develop my interests and major,  but she has also pushed me to take initiative. Whether it be reaching out to NC State faculty or various veterinarians for internship  opportunities, she’s pushed me to make the first move and get my name out there. She has also pushed me to keep my standards just as high as they were in high school. I’ve been told that it’s okay if I get B’s in college since it’s harder than high school, but during our first meeting she expressed otherwise. Yes, B’s are good, but A’s are better. A simple conversation with her got me revamped and ready to take on finals. I now am trying to be a better student by doing things like reading and taking notes on textbook chapters ahead of class.

Off-Campus Mentor

In my second year at NC State, I got an additional mentor in my chosen field. My off-campus mentor is Dr. Diane Deresienski who works at Bowman Animal Hospital & Cat Clinic and is one of few vets to become board certified. She has encouraged my interest in the veterinary field and given me unique experiences with some of the more exotic types of pets by allowing me to shadow her. Every minute I spend shadowing her is a time of learning, hands-on experience, and lots of fun. From seeing routine visits to those that involve much rarer conditions, I’ve gotten a good taste of what life could be like working as a vet in a general. I look forward to spending even more time with her as the year rolls on.