Business to student E-mentoring
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Success Stories
Student Mentoring 2006 | Site Designed by itech Design
Case study one:Stacy
StacyStacy is young girl of 10 years of age and attends a school in North Warwickshire area. The school has tried many initiatives to get Stacy to come out of her shell a little and show the world how great she really is.
Stacy was always very quiet and didn’t interact very well with her class mates and received very little support outside of the school environment. It was very obvious that there was lots of potential bursting to get out but unless we motivated her and built up her low self-esteem we wouldn’t achieve anything. Our goal was to get Stacy talking to her class mates and to give her boost.
We decided to try e-mentoring and explained to her in detail that her mentor was far away and she could talk to him about anything that she was interested in. The conversations started with small one line sentences and this developed into conversations about everything from horses to schoolwork.
After 7 weeks of being on the e-mentoring programme Stacy stood in front of the class and presented to them. Stacy is a very happy little girl and all she needed was to be told her work was good and she could achieve her personal goals. Her mentor has decided to continue mentoring Stacy for next several academic years and beyond if she needs the help.
We asked Stacy why having an e-mentor had worked for her and she was very honest and it all makes sense to us now.
Stacy said, “I like having an e-mentor because I can say whatever I like and even if they do laugh at me, I can’t see and hear them”. Stacy just wanted someone to talk to about life and schoolwork who didn’t know her and who didn’t have an opinion about her. But most important of all Stacy needed someone to listen.
Our Comments:
This is a great case study for all those who believe an email once a week will not make a difference. Sometimes in our lives we just need to have a conversation with someone who will encourage us and tell us that we are great and the work we are doing is excellent.
I would say the e-mentor is a credit to the company he works for and of course to himself. Answering an email once a week does make a difference and it is more than just a donation of time. The mentor has learnt a lot from Stacy and isn’t afraid to talk about it. He said the one thing that keeps him focused on her support is the fact that she won’t give in and she won’t stop trying.
E-mentoring works – Stacy and her e-mentor are proof of it.
Case study two:Manni
ManniManni is a girl of 16 years of age and attends a school in the West Midlands area.
Manni tries very hard at school and has the potential to be a superb student. We were asked to link Manni with a business mentor who would give her a better understanding of work life and how different it is to school life.
The e-mentor in this case study came from an IT company and worked in the technical department running whole networks and strategy management.
Our goal was to give Manni and insight into the possible employment area she was considering in the future. She was also unsure about university and whether she should go or not. The staff member answered his email every week generally from home but was able along with the parents of Manni to convince her that going to university was a the right thing to do.
None of Mannis brothers had gone to university and so there was a real stigma to her going, after all, her brothers had gained employment without it so why should she go. During this time Manni was also sitting exams and received lots of support and revision advice from her mentor.
We are pleased to say Manni did extremely well with her exams and is now looking forward to starting university in September. The school is over the moon with her progress and feel the support from the e-mentor definitely tipped the balance. Mannis parents believe that without her being able to talk to someone all be it via the Internet from industry she would have probably left school and gone into employment and never realised her true potential.
Our Comments:
Manni was in an all too typical situation. Lot’s of young people need encouragement no matter how old or from whatever background they come from. There are many students that could go to university but because of family and outside pressures they don’t. We need professionals like this mentor to encourage young adults like Manni to look at all the options and make an informed decision.
The staff member is continuing to be Manni’s mentor and will be on call via her
e-mentoring portal whenever she needs him through university.
