If you look back on your life, can you identify any mentors you’ve had? I can identify a few, although some have fallen out of touch over the years. 

In community college, I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my dreams, and who would willingly chat with me about it. When I was getting my bachelors, I had two mentors (who still keep in touch today), who wrote numerous reference letters and were willing to listen when I was struggling with my Ph.D. the first time and thinking of dropping down to my Masters. They encouraged me and told me that dropping down wasn’t giving up, but rather strengthening my resolve. Sometimes, the circumstances just aren’t right. Funnily enough, my graduate school experience didn’t leave me with any mentors. No one was willing to take me under their wing and fight for me. 

I’ve had a couple in my career path who stood out as mentors. My boss in my first grown up job (where I was a quality control scientist) completely understood when I told her I was leaving to work as a science lab manager for a nearby university. She was so excited for me, and knew the position that I was taking would get me closer to my goals. She is still a reference for me to this day, and encouraged me (and wrote a letter) to apply to a Ph.D. program. Last summer, she negotiated for me to be able to come back and work for them part time while I was off contract. She has been amazing, and always encourages me to pursue my dreams. 

My latest mentor was the science coordinator at the university I worked at. He wasn’t my direct boss (the dean was), but he essentially filled that role. He encouraged me to go to conferences, taught me about managing labs, and fought for me to be given teaching assignments. He’d scheduled me to teach a summer class, and the dean called me and essentially said I was just a science lab manager, that she would talk to him but would need to rework the schedule. I was disappointed. I wanted the opportunity (and the extra money would have been nice), but I told her I understood. About an hour later, he came by my office, told me he’d talked to the dean, and that I was still on to teach for summer. I don’t know what his meeting with her entailed, but I do know he fought to give me that class over summer…and it was mine. 

When I told him at the end of this summer that there had been agreements made by the dean before I signed my contract, and then after I signed, they went back on those, he listened. I gave him all the evidence (you guys should know me well enough by now) for him to look at later, and told him how much I appreciated everything he did for me, but that I couldn’t stay. He told me he completely understood, if he were in my position he would have done the same thing, and that he was sorry it was handled so poorly. He did tell me to stay in touch, and that he would still love to work with me for homeschool science outreach events. Even though I was no longer working at that university, he was still willing to be a mentor, and help me reach my goals of bringing science to the community…and he told me he would always be willing to be a reference. 

When I turned in my keys in July, I thought that was that. As I was leaving, he told me he’d met with the dean and the provost and that he was going to make sure things changed. The science lab manager position would be eliminated, but he was creating a new one. One with more flexibility, more teaching, and still an element of lab management. He told me he was creating it, and told me he would love for me to come back, but would completely understand if I left for good. While my decision is yet to come, it made me pause. 

He liked me well enough that he was willing to meet with the provost and the dean, get more clarification on why they had backtracked on what I’d been told, and actively worked to resolve the situation. Regardless of whether I would apply for the new position or not, he was in my corner, and while he couldn’t get me to stay as science lab manager, he created an opening that would essentially fix all of the issues that had caused me to quit, if I chose it. And whether or not I worked for the university, he was still so eager and willing to help me with the outreach events that I had been working on at the K-12 STEM Workshop we’d both attended. 

Mentors are people in your life (in any area, really) who are willing to give you advice, encourage you to grow and learn, and help you out when you struggle. While you may not see all that they do, mentors will even go behind the scenes to try and fix issues for you, and who will do their best to change things that you can’t change. 

We all have the opportunity to be a mentor in someone’s life. Whether it’s a young person at church, or through 4-H, or even in your workplace or school – you have the ability to make a lasting impression on someone…either for good or for bad. If you find yourself in the role of a mentor for someone, help guide them, encourage them to reach for the stars, and even stand up for them when they need it. My latest mentor never stood up for me when I was present, he was professional and went to the source. He worked behind the scenes to fix things, and never brought attention to how he did this and that to fix things. He would just tell me matter of fact that things had changed (or not changed after all), as if he’d just happened to come across that information. 

Mentors are valuable, and I hope you have a good one in your life. Maybe someday I’ll be able to return the favor for someone down the road. 

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