Gerry (00:11):

Welcome to the Seidman mentorship podcast. This is your captain. Speaking on the show. We navigate the voyage of life through the lens of Lakers. Some who have just come aboard and others who are well underway. We will speak with experts who will show us the ropes, help us plot a course and recount exhilarating tales of uncharted territory all while promoting life long learning agility and a culture of mentorship. Today on the show, I host a round table of pro mentors, peer mentors, and mentees. We review the pilot year of the Seidman mentorship program, sharing our experiences and offering advice to those who are interested in joining us. You can hear the warmth and passion of these wonderful volunteers who decided to come aboard and share their voyage with others.

Gerry (00:57):

Ahoy and welcome everyone. We have a lot more people in the studio than, than we're used to crowded around our, our makeshift studio here that, that comes to life in the, in the summer here at grand valley. And then we put it all away for the fall and go into the other stuff. So I'm gonna go around the room and let folks introduce themselves. Of course I'm Gerry Cooke and I'm the captain. So I'm the director of mentorship for the Seidman college of business. And with me, I have many guests I'm gonna let them introduce themselves.

Jean (01:26):

Thanks Gerry I'm Jean Benhorn. And this was my first year as a mentor.

Gerry (01:32):

Thanks Jean.

Reilly (01:32):

I'm Riley Forbes, and I am a junior mentee.

Brooke (01:37):

My name is Brooke Berman and I was a senior mentor and mentee

Alaina (01:43):

And I'm Alaina Boersema and I was a sophomore mentor and mentee.

Gerry (01:49):

So I really appreciate you guys Midsummer coming from all your places, especially those of you who have graduated professional careers, not living in Allendale or grand rapids coming out on an evening to, to talk to the program. And I appreciate the work that you've done in the program, and I'm excited to hear, and I know the audience is excited to hear some of the things that you did and what you learned. And I want to start with, how did you get started in the program and, and why did you do it? We'll go around the, the horn again.

Jean (02:22):

Okay, I'll start. This is Jean. And it was a personal invitation from yourself, but I really, really enjoyed it and I was happy to do so, because I just really feel like once you've been in your career, a number of years, you become a little bit jaded. So having a relationship with a young, fresh business curriculum student just brings a whole new perspective and appreciation of, of the business world.

Reilly (02:57):

I found out about the program through an advisor. I was looking for a way to kind of experience more of what business was like outside of just the classroom. So I, after a series of questions found out about it through an advisor,

Brooke (03:15):

I found out about it through a professor. As I found out more and more about it, I really wanted to be a part of the program. I have had the opportunity during internships to be mentored on a professional level. And I just really thought it would be great to be a part of this new program and help bring my knowledge that I've gained to a mentee and also learn a lot from a professional as I was in my senior year.

Alaina (03:45):

And I actually joined the program late after everyone else, I worked with Gerry in the advising office and Gerry approached me one day and was like, Alaina, do you have time to mentor another student? And I was like, no, but I will cause I really wanted to get more involved. And I also wanted to have a pro mentor and I ended up having both a poor, a pro mentor and a mentee and it was super fun and I'm glad I did it. And I'm glad that Gerry approached me in the office and ended up working out really well. So,

Gerry (04:19):

Well we appreciate you taking the time to do it and all of you guys, the time to do it. And I, I, that leads me to my next question that I want to ask. And I think there's a lot of misperception sometimes about how much time does the program take. And I don't have time to do this and everybody's busy and COVID was awful and work is tough. So how much time did it take and how much, you know, was it worth the time that you put in?

Jean (04:49):

It was definitely worth the time and it wasn't a regularly set schedule for myself and my mentee. It was kind of dependent on my schedule and hers. It was a lot of lunches and emails and phone calls. So I think that there's a lot of flexibility as far as the schedule demand.

Reilly (05:07):

For me personally, it really wasn't that time consuming my mentor. And I would oftentimes meet for coffee on a Friday morning and meet for 30 to 45 minutes once or twice a month.

Brooke (05:20):

Same here about once a month, my mentor and I would meet just based on his professional life and schedule. And then my mentee T and I, we often met twice a month, just again, depending on the schedule. And depending on what was going on with her and her life just so that I could be there for her throughout the, her freshman year of school. So

Alaina (05:46):

I feel like I met with my mentee a lot more than my professional mentor, just because we are in similar stages in college. And we were able to FaceTime and meet up for coffee with my professional mentor though, like we would meet up and have coffee or lunch together. And that would be like once a month for like half hour or 45 minutes, but it's super doable and I've enjoyed it.

Gerry (06:08):

I have learned because it's been a long time since I've been at grand valley and a long time since I've worked with different generations. And I found out that coffee is actually not just, no, it's a, it's a verb and it's a hobby. So in the intake form that people fill out that I used to pair you guys with your mentors. When I asked for hobbies, I was surprised at how often I get coffee as a hobby, but I love the fact that there's that socialization that's happening and I think we're starved for it, right? We we've had two years of being separated, this pandemic for you folks. Especially, you know, Brooke, you, you graduated the last two years. You didn't have a normal what we would call the normal college experience. And I think that changed everything I wanna ask you. And, and for Jean, this will probably be from your professional experiences, what was one takeaway that you learned from your mentor?

Jean (07:03):

Okay. So it's been a while since I've had a mentor, but when I did what I always appreciated was their perspective. It's so easy to get drawn into individual situations that you may make out to be more dramatic than they actually are. So just having that perspective of someone who's been there, done that and can look back on a situation and provide advice.

Reilly (07:28):

Yeah. So I have a pretty similar answer to Jean, just like having, seeing everything from like their point of view, as well as just how to socialize with people in a like more professional manner. Whereas like for me coming out of high school, you are kind of in your own way of like, this is how you communicate with your friends and then changing that into how to communicate with like your coworkers and other professionals in the field.

Brooke (07:58):

Yeah, I agree. I definitely think for me as well, having that person to jump ideas off of and career goals and personal goals and kind of pushed me outta my comfort zone a lot of the time, because at times I think we all struggle with setting those goals and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone. And so to really have that person to just talk through everything I think is the best experience that you can have.

Alaina (08:26):

I feel like my mentor really just taught me how to get more involved within the community. She works at the global trade center in DEVOS and she just wanted me to volunteer and she had always had like suggestions for what I should do. And it was nice to have that person to go to and ask about like, oh, like, how should I go about this? And she would always have an answer or be like maybe you should do it this way instead. So again, like you guys said, like having someone to get advice from, and also bounce ideas off of, and just things such as that. So,

Gerry (09:01):

So let me shift the perspective. Now we just talked about kind of what you got from your mentors, for those of you that had mentees. What did you give to your mentee or what was one takeaway that either surprised you or it was really impactful that you think that you shared with your mentee?

Alaina (09:21):

I can go, so I had a mentee that was in the same I guess you could say standing as me, we were both sophomores. And so I told her that I'm not just gonna be teaching her things, but I'll also be learning from her. So it's a two-way street. So not only are you the mentor, but you're the mentee with both or with having it go both ways. So it was nice to have someone who also could teach me things while I was helping guide them through their college career.

Gerry (09:50):

So what kind of things did you discover from working with your mentee?

Alaina (09:54):

Well she is going into accounting and I was not. And so looking at the field of how to go about a job like the job path in accounting, cause she wanted to do auditing such as like Brooke is doing she, her internship process is way different than what I have and what I've seen in the office. So just learning about different career paths. And then I feel like she learned from me just how to get more out there and do more networking events and get involved within grand valley. She is gonna join IPO. So yeah, just things like that.

Gerry (10:31):

Cool.

Jean (10:32):

I guess I would like to think and I'd have to ask my mentee, but I hope that I was able to be an encouragement to her because it is kind of overwhelming at times, being a student participating in all the activities and looking at a graduation and necessity to get a job, it can be really overwhelming. So I hope I was encouraging.

Gerry (10:54):

I love that. There was someone else in the MBA cohort that I worked with that I, you know, encouraged, recruited, coerced into being in the mentorship program lot like did with Alaina. And I would ask once a week we're in class, I would ask, you know, how's it going with your mentees? And one of the mentors said, yeah, I just sent a little card. And I'm like, oh, is it the mentee's birthday? And she's like, no, I just it's exam week. And I just, you know, is this that little piece of encouragement? And I didn't get to talk to the mentee, but I could just imagine that exam week. And it's just so stressful and just getting a little card, a little piece of encouragement, the fact that you're trusted friend and advisor, that's what I call our mentors, right? Somebody's out there and looking out for you and just cares. And I think is no surprise. The program is successful. We looked at the metrics because people who are supported do well, we know that. And so this is not new. But it's great to hear these stories and that encouragement gene I think is, is so important.

Brooke (11:56):

I would say for me, I hope that I gave my mentee a friend. I know she, I was lucky enough. I believe that she is one to me. Just really being able to be there for her through a lot of the ups and downs of college, especially, I feel like we all feel this immense pressure to really figure out what major you want to do and really delegate your time to early. And so being able to be there for her and support her in that journey of kind of trying to develop into what she wants to do for a career was really an amazing opportunity for me. And I think also helped me to self reflect and kind of look back and see maybe areas that I wish I would've known and could explore now as a upperclassman so

Gerry (12:46):

That what I would've known or had I known them. What I know now is something I suspect will not happen or will not cease to happen throughout your lifetime. As Jean and I sit here and not our Sage like pro mentor heads because you, you, you go back and you look and the things that baffle do as a incoming student, you're like, oh, I've mastered that. And then you're baffled about something. Well, when you go out and you do 30 years corporate, and then you come back and you turn around and you're like, wow, these things keep coming up. What's next. But as you gain that perspective and that experience the things that are coming down the pike as Jean put it earlier, that kind of, that separation between the emotional part of, of your life and your professional part and what matters and what doesn't becomes hopefully clearer. And I love that that's a perspective and we can't teach a class on that. Every time I'm, I'm talking to faculty and staff at the university that are like, we need more people skills, we need more. And that's just something, if we could teach it in a class, we would've done a class. If we could write a book, we'd write a book. But we can't, it's a human to human experience and that's why mentorship works.

Gerry (14:00):

So let me back up a little bit because I'd like to hear how you spent your first meetings and how you built that relationship. And Brooke, you talked about this being a friend. And I tell folks that none of the deep mentoring stuff happens until you have a relationship. And I think I encouraged everybody at the beginning. I'm like get to know your mentoring partners and then see where things go rather than I think a lot of people go in with a list of objectives and these are the things we're going to do, and that's great, but the deep mentoring where you really share, Hey, I'm really struggling with this happens, I think after the relationship. So tell me a little bit about how you navigated that and any best practices you might have for the folks listening who are going to be mentors and mentees and things that they might want to think about.

Jean (14:44):

We communicated via email at first, just to learn a little bit about each other. And then we met for lunch and I think food is always appropriate and always appreciated in that worked well. That was a common theme in a lot of our meetings was meeting for a meal and had some great conversations,

Reilly (15:07):

My mentor and I, for our first meeting, we met for coffee and we really, I came in with the kind of a list of things that like I wanted to try and accomplish over the year, but we spent most of that meeting, just getting to know each other as people and also like kind of set our goals rather than like immediately start working. We kind of really got to know who we are as people and what, what we both both I as a mentee and her as a mentor want out of this relationship.

Brooke (15:38):

Yeah. I would definitely agree with that. In addition, just really taking the time and having the patience to just sit back and let a natural conversation flow, which is easier said than done. But just really the first few meetings that my mentee and my mentor had with me, we actually didn't discuss anything having to do with school or education or work. We just strictly kept it to personal experiences in life. And especially I think for freshman, having the opportunity to just really be open about all of your emotions and feelings, I think helped us to really create that relationship early on. So that then later on, as I mentioned, when she had certain questions or concerns, she could actually bring them to me. So

Alaina (16:30):

Yeah, I have a similar, I guess, story. I emailed both my mentor and mentee and then got lunch with both of them. And I expected to sit with them for probably like 30 or 45 minutes. And then with my mentee, we sat there for three and a half hours. Wow. And just talked about so much stuff. Like I got to learn about her life and where she was from and why she chose grand valley. And what she wanted to go into. I just felt like it was really good to get to know each other on that level. And finally, I was like, okay, I really have to go home. Like I would love to sit and talk more. So then we ended up just texting and we got to be friends and it was great after that, like I had known so much about her, then we could just like sit down and like create goals after that.

Alaina (17:13):

And it went really well. And then same with my mentor. We met for lunch and I usually have like a half hour lunch at work and I was gone for like an hour and a half. And I like had to apologize when I got back to office because I was like, I was with my mentor and I ended up spending way more time with her than I thought I would, but we just had a good conversation. I didn't want it to end. And I wanted to get to know her. So both ways. We spent a lot of time, the first meeting together, just talking about life and how we got to where we are so far.

Gerry (17:42):

It's kind of fun for me. I, I miss having direct mentees, but I don't engage in that because I'm busy administrating the program, but it's fun for me to play matchmaker. So I'm sitting there with either. I know somebody like, I, I know Jean cuz we worked together for so many years and then I run into folks and then I'm thinking about this and there's many mentors and mentees in the program who happen to bump into me somewhere on campus. And then we have a conversation and then I tell 'em what I do. And a lot of times that turns into recruitment opportunity and it's fun for me to walk around with these people in my head thinking, wow, this is, this person has all these things to offer. And then I'll almost inevitably it's, it's almost magical. I'll run into the other person.

Gerry (18:30):

And I think that happened a lot with the people in this, this room, especially that we, there, there was, there was something about these folks that wanna volunteer their time. They want to help you. They have experience and they're willing and open to do it. And they're volunteers and Jean and I were talking before the before we came into the studio about the fact that these folks are willing to give and receive of their time. And that's just, that's absolutely powerful. And that's a lot of the success I contribute to the program is you folks wanted to do that. I want to talk real quickly about communication methods because I had a misnomer when I started in the program as a, a professional, I live and die by email. And so when I gave out email addresses to folks, I'm like, this is where it's going.

Gerry (19:18):

And I had so many pro mentors and then mentees who are like, I can't get hold of my mentoring partner. And I'm like, what did you try? And I found that the old pros used email and students weren't quite as excited about email as we were and the students wanted to text and I'm like, whoa. As a profession, like my, you know, my home is my castle and my cell phone is my private life and I'm not sure I'm ready for that until we, we meet. How did you guys do communication and, and was it a big deal or did you get over that pretty quickly?

Jean (19:48):

That's so funny that you mentioned that because I would have to concur with you in the email status and on the first couple of emails, it was all text and that, and that's okay. It worked out well.

Reilly (20:04):

My pro mentor and I actually emailed the entirety of our relationship. I never texted her once. Every time that we communicated or set up any type of meeting or I had a question for her, everything was set through an email.

Brooke (20:21):

Yeah. I had the same situation with my mentor when it came to my mentee and I, I asked early on how she prefers to communicate because I really wanted to make sure that we had a clear line of communication right off the bat. And we ended up texting, which was an adjustment for me as well. I typically hold off giving someone my personal phone number until I get to know them. But I do think it actually ended up helping in the long run cuz we established that communication right away.

Alaina (20:51):

Yeah. I'd also started off with emails, but then once I got to meet them the first time we were both like, why don't we get each other's phone numbers? Cuz it's so much easier to schedule. When you can just text and be like, Hey, are you free for lunch tomorrow? Instead of sending an email waiting for like a couple of days, cuz they get lost so easily. So we resorted to text most of the time after the first time we met

Jean (21:13):

And it, it is never a phone call. Is it never phone calls anymore? No,

Alaina (21:17):

I FaceTimed a couple of times, which was nice with my mentee. Because we couldn't meet and like, it was just easier to do that than like set up a zoom meeting. So we were like, do you wanna FaceTime? And it was like nine 30 at night, one night and we just talked for like a half hour and then we're like, okay, gotta go to bed.

Gerry (21:32):

Our time is over Jean. The good old days are, are, are, have, have gone by. And yeah, I I'll tell you that Jean and I, we don't, we don't lose emails. We lived in and died by, by our email count and our day was never done because the email box rarely got emptied, but I'm interested to see also the, the change of aspect of, of work in general going forward because there's a lot of change going on, which is a topic for a home, another podcast. So I won't, I won't digress any further. So we talked about a lot of the experience. What surprised you as far as what didn't work. I'm not asking to share a catastrophic failure, but you know, what's a thing that, that you can share that maybe the folks listening who are going to be in the program later on or, or could identify with that, that maybe you thought was a good idea and, and didn't work out so great.

Jean (22:24):

I'd have to say the quantity of time spent together and this is on me. I really wish I had prioritized it a little bit more dedicated, more time to my mentee and I, and that's, that's my goal next year,

Brooke (22:42):

I would say for me really pushing for at least maybe one in person meet up with my mentor. I always kind of felt like the connection could have been stronger. Even though we did do all the time, zoom just seeing someone's face, I don't feel actually establishes that connection. So I would definitely say pushing for at least one meet. I understand with COVID that, you know, there are restrictions and some individuals don't feel comfortable. But I personally, my goal would be to at least establish one in person meeting in the future.

Alaina (23:19):

Yeah. Going off of them actually scheduling in person meetings was definitely the hardest. And we thought that we would be able to meet like twice a month, at least. And sometimes I could with like my mentee, but my mentor and I, we both just had busy schedules and like they never lined up cuz she would be like working at home when I was in the office. And so just prioritizing, like Jean said, like your time and then making sure that you're meeting with them as much as you want to. It's really good to meet more than once in my opinion, cuz you get to know so much more about them. But I think next year when I have a mentee or mentor I'd probably schedule my meetings ahead of time. So then I can schedule other things around it and have that time set to meet with them. So

Jean (24:03):

I'd also have to add that networking as a skill I could be. I could help more with, I mean, when you've been in the business world, a number of years, you just naturally have those contacts. And I think that that would be a valuable tool for mentees.

Gerry (24:24):

Some of the most fun I've ever had with the mentees was going to networking or going to a networking meeting and then trying experimenting with those soft skills. Cause if you're at a networking meeting and Seman has many of them, the alumni association has them when you're at a networking meeting, people expect you to network. So it's a very soft, safe space for a lot of the folks who are like, Hmm, I don't know how to do that elevator pitch or introduce myself, use that business card, those kinds of things. And I love going those environments because just go, go do it or, or tag along and watch somebody else do it. And you learn through watching those folks do that. Jean, you said you, you were talking about a goal for next year. Time-Wise do you know what that goal is?

Jean (25:12):

I don't. I probably should.

Gerry (25:15):

No, that's that's fine. I mean we're not, we're not in the program. I'm just interested because I think that brings up the next question is, you know, how much did you meet? And, and we talked a little bit about that time commitment and it sounds like y'all enjoyed the time to do that. You know, I guess let's talk really quick about, you know, the amount of time that you guys did meet. I know I, as the administrator of the program, you know, I was looking for two interactions and I tell our pro mentors an hour a month. And I figured, you know, if you talk twice through some format and then spend, you know, 1500 or 20 minutes on your own, like Gene's thinking like who can I introduce this person to next? Or how can we schedule the next meeting and what Elena said?

Gerry (25:55):

And I was a big proponent of that when I, I made my mentees cause I was a cruel mean pro mentor. I always put it on my mentees. I was like, we need to check in and you need to call me on every Wednesday. And, and I made them use the physical phone gene that's how, how iCal I was. I'm like, I want you to call me during some sort of standard normality of hours, you know, 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM, call me and let's talk. And then we would set up those other things that Brooke talked about, whether it was at face to face meeting or whether it was a job shadow or, you know, coming along for the day to do what we were going to do or going to an event. But yeah, just kinda interested in, in like how often you met and how much time you put in this time around

Jean (26:38):

Monthly contact was, was not a stretch. That was no problem, but I, I think personally speaking, it could be double that, and it depends too on the geographical situation. Like my mentee was right here in town and I, I travel and can be somewhat flexible in my schedule. So it all depends on those variables too.

Reilly (27:00):

My mentor and I started off the school year, really strong by meeting at least once, if not twice a month, just for like a 30, 45 minute meeting over coffee or lunch or whatever, but kind of as the school year went on and as I started to get busier and she started traveling for work, it definitely kind of fell off to where we were really kind of struggling to find a time to meet for even 30 minutes a month.

Brooke (27:29):

Yeah. I would agree with that. My mentor and I, we probably met at least an hour a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Just again, it depended on both of our schedules, especially, you know, working with a professional mentorship partner. They do have busy schedules, especially mine was an accountant, so right around year end gets really busy. So I think just understanding that on both sides is helpful, but my mentee and I, I would say we met for probably at least three hours a month, if not significantly more in some cases just depended on what we had to say that day. So

Alaina (28:11):

Yeah, I would agree with that. Me and my mentee had met quite a bit more than me and my mentor just cuz our schedules met up a little better than with my mentor, but my mentee and I probably met around like three or probably more than that. Honestly, every time we met up and then that also included like FaceTimes and like texting just getting to know each other through that. And then my mentor and I probably met once a month and we tried to do two. We tried to do more than just once, but sometimes your schedules just don't line up. So having the outside contact of like emailing or texting other than meeting up in person also helps as well. So

Gerry (28:51):

It's really easy when you enjoy your time. And I know all of you guys really gave of your time and accepted at the time. And so it's easy to do that, but it gives folks the idea as they think about, you know, being in the program I want to go around and do only two more questions where we're, we're already coming to the end of our time. Believe it or not. The first question that I want you to answer is I'd like you to give one piece of advice to a future mentor or mentee your choice or both of what they should think about or what they should do. And then we'll go around one more time. And the second question is I'd like you to sell the program. So I'd like you to do your, your little spiel and tell the folks listening why they should be part of that program. So we'll do the piece of advice first and then we'll go back around. I want you to have time to think about both of those. So just one piece of advice you'd give to the mentors or, or mentees who join the program.

Jean (29:48):

As far as advice, I would say, just being really open to where the mentee is at some of them they live locally, they sometimes live with their families and they have a support structure in place, but sometimes it'll be international student or someone who has is, is living on campus and, and they tend to need a little more interaction because they just don't have that naturally in their life.

Reilly (30:15):

I definitely agree with that for any perspective, pro mentor a big piece of advice for me anyways, would be just really understanding where your mentee is because a lot of times like they are scared. They have never been in a situation where they're conversing with someone in a professional setting and a lot of it's new for them and it's gonna take them a minute to open up. So really take the time to get to know them and let them know that you are going to help them. And then my advice for any perspective, mentee would be it's like, go like go for it. Don't worry about, or people are gonna like, what are people gonna think about me? Or is this actually gonna be beneficial because you're going to learn a lot, whether or not you think that you are like, it's definitely a program worthwhile. Oh

Brooke (31:14):

Yeah. I would definitely say a piece of advice for the pro mentor is don't be afraid to open up past just the professional side. You know, I, I do think that it can be difficult kind of crossing that line when, you know, in a professional setting you have to maintain that professionalism. So I would say definitely try to break through that barrier so that your mentee really gets a feel for who you are and can open up more. And then for a mentee kind of like what Riley just said. I, I think just remember it's a two-way street. So what you bring and what your mentor brings really makes that relationship and experience. So don't be afraid to just open up, even if it feels funny or silly where you were probably in the same boat our freshman year. So

Alaina (32:07):

Yeah, mine would probably be to both my mentor and mentees, like in the future, it was just to be vulnerable and be open and be able to talk about things and sometimes things will get awkward possibly, but you have to know how to navigate those. But just being able to talk about things in your experience, not only in the professional workplace or in college, but also in your life and just how you've gotten to the position that you're in and being vulnerable, like allows both your mentor and mentee to see like where you have gone and how you've gotten to where you've been. So being open,

Gerry (32:43):

Openness, vulnerable, and I think leaning into those differences, it's clear that we're all different folks and sometimes getting that and being open to that and asking about that is how we learn. And I can't stress that enough. There's so many great things that folks learn. I call them the social scripts. You learn more and more social scripts of how to interact deal with folks and really present yourself the way you want to. And I, if, if you can't do that with your mentor, who can you do it with? Because you're agreed. We hand out handbooks, you assign confidentiality agreements, it's your safe space to experiment the kind of person you were presenting the world and how that person's being received. And that's, that's the soft skill component that regular university can't teach. All right, last question, we'll go around and, and I'll let you sell the program. So elevator pitch time.

Jean (33:43):

Okay. This is easy because I talk about this program with my coworkers and I've got this pitch down pat, but it's just capturing that enthusiasm of a student mentee. As I said at the top of the program, you do tend to be a little bit jaded as the years go on. And you've been in the career in the business world and having that student's enthusiasm is contagious. And then recognizing the benefit of that fresh perspective and especially their skill sets, for instance, technology, I will never be a a expert at technology, but oftentimes a student can even help in some of those situations.

Reilly (34:23):

For me coming in this past year for the first time in this program as a mentee, I really was able to learn not just the soft skills like networking and resume building and anything else, but I was also able to build a relationship and learn what it's really gonna be like as well as learning, maybe like a path to where I wanna go with my life. And there's something that's just so special about finding all of these things out and having somebody help you like guide you along the way.

Brooke (34:58):

I would definitely agree with that as well. I truly feel like being part of the program is a time of transformation for all parties involved. Myself, I felt like I gained confidence and, you know, I'm sure that my mentee, I don't wanna speak for them. And my mentor also gained from this experience as well. I really think having that friendship, like I mentioned with your mentee and your mentor is something invaluable. It's truly an amazing opportunity to get to know yourself and explore yourself and your goals while also having that person to guide you on your way. And that's something that this program definitely gives.

Alaina (35:45):

Honestly I wish I could have done the program longer. I didn't know about it in the fall and I wasn't able to join until Gerry like approached me and that was in spring semester. So if I had longer, I definitely would have done it. But something that like I really loved about the program is just how much you learn about yourself and about the workplace and about college and general, and just you learn so much about everything and you it's useful information. It's stuff that you learned outside the classroom that you can use both in the classroom at work like at home. So just you've learned so much from it.

Gerry (36:28):

There you go, folks, I can't sell it any better than the, the people that are in the program do it themselves. It is such an honor to do the work that we do. I appreciate all of you in the time that you have put into the program. And I'm so proud of the successes that you've had and the growth that I see from the re-energizing of the folks who have been, you know, out there in the corporate world to our younger generation, our first generation mentees who are learning to be vulnerable and open. And then I think the realization for our, especially for our peer mentors, who, you know, have gone out into the world now and bring this new experience with them and I see your enthusiasm and I watch your success. And we have a teeny we're climbing a teeny part of, of your success as you go forward.

Gerry (37:14):

Seidman mentorship program is open to anybody in the Seidman school of business and all of the professionals in the community who are interested in working with us. We run completely on volunteers who want to give of themselves and their time to give and receive through mentorship. Thank you everybody for joining us. And I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for sailing along on this episode of the Seidman mentorship podcast, for more information on the Seidman school of business mentorship program at grand valley state university set your heading to www dot GVSU dot Edu forward slash Seidman. If you have a story to tell, know someone we should interview have questions or comments, email us at, go the number two, gv biz spelled biz at gvsu.edu until next time, keep a weathered eye on the horizon and we wish you fair wins so long.