It’s National Mentoring Month, and we’re honoring and celebrating mentors with inspiring stories, tools, and resources to help build successful mentoring relationships and programs.
Mentoring can happen through formal programs or informally, through strong, reciprocal relationships. We asked some of our friends and colleagues to share with us their thoughts and stories on mentoring.
Who? Nkongho Beteck
Age: 17
Grade: 12, Senior at Wicomico Senior High
Hometown: Salisbury, MD
Spark: “I aspire to be a part of history…to have the career of my dreams in a field where I can tell stories every single day and impact others is a goal of mine.”
Who’s Your Mentor? “My favorite teacher, Ms. Howard.”
Nkongho’s Story: There were whispers and stares among the class as I prepared my presentation. In the back of the room, my favorite teacher, Ms. Howard, sneaked smiles of encouragement my way. Trembling, I stumbled my way through the presentation. It was a terrible account of the work I had done. My grade proved it.
After class, Ms. Howard expressed her concern. She knew I had worked hard on the project and believed I was capable of executing it perfectly. She praised the graphics I used, and noticed the extra time I took after class to perfect it.
She not only acknowledged but praised me for my efforts, which gave me confidence. It was great to know that she cared about me and wanted to see me succeed. With this assurance, I completed another presentation and mastered it. Ms. Howard taught me that true perseverance can lead to achieving goals. These lessons changed my life. I now set goals and truly believe that by working through them, I can accomplish anything.
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Who? Tim Showalter-Loch, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Search Institute
Tim on Mentoring: The best mentors in my life were good at being around a lot, and they were good at being the adult. Now my best mentoring relationships are reciprocal and mutual, and make it hard to say who is mentoring whom. I doubt I could enjoy such rich relationships now without the adults in my life when I was younger who modeled what I could aspire to, knowing I wasn’t there yet, but would get there someday.
Have Your Say! Share your mentoring story with us on Facebook.
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