Why I find mentoring important

Something I hold very dear to me is the process and importance of mentorship. Those who take the time to fully guide students to find themselves, are held at a great appreciation by me. My first experience with a mentor would be one of my chemistry professors. This professor was, at first, someone who I just went to see for help in the course and mostly discussed problems from exams or the homework assignments. Soon, we started to converse about potential research labs on campus for me to become involved in. This was where I learned she struggled with an autoimmune disease. To my surprise, it was the same one I had just been diagnosed with not more than months before. It was a shock to me to have met someone in a very educated position with the same disease I had. In my experience before, those who were diagnosed basically had a set life where you have a lot of hard choices to make. My only knowledge of someone else was my mother and aunt who were also diagnosed at the same age I was. They both had to drop out of school a week before even attending as the medical bills and surgeries restricted them from attending. This disease is not one much talked about. Many hold a stigma against it as those I have told when I was first diagnosed downplayed it or cracked jokes. Due to these common situations between those with this autoimmune disease, it became very hidden. To me, even in my first year of university, I felt that I was just counting down the days until I was too sick or just did not have the funds anymore to attend school. I was dealing with this on my own as I felt no one else really understood what I was going through. Learning that there was someone else who was in a position that I had for a career goal, was something like no other. Meetings between my professor and I after still included discussions about the course but the professor became someone I was able to reflect ideas off of as well as learn from based on her experiences. Mentors are crucial for students in university because no student should be left to figure every step out on their own. Because of my experience, I have taken up mentor positions of my own to ensure I can help as many students as possible on my campus. One of the most important mentorship opportunities I took was as a URI 101 mentor. Here, I mentor around thirty students per class and would be their first upperclassmen student that they meet on campus. I am sure to put myself out there are someone they can come to about any issue or concern they might have as I know how it can feel to be a student who is not even sure they would be able to stay in school.