When I was in seventh grade, one of my teachers asked me if I would be interested in being her mentee for the Teammates program. After finding out what the program entailed—meeting with my mentor once a week at school to talk about how things in our lives are going—I sent in my application. A few weeks later, my teacher and I were paired up to start meeting. This kick-started my mentoring journey, which has been beneficial in multiple aspects—from being a mentee to becoming a mentor myself.
Since we were first paired back in 2019, although we’ve had to work through scheduling conflicts, my mentor and I have met every week. During our meetings, we discuss the ongoings in our lives, and my mentor has given me a lot of good advice to think about as I leave our meetings each week. I’ve also gained a lot of useful knowledge and have become more comfortable with sharing my emotions with others. Despite the fact that my mentor is a teacher at my school, it has always been really nice to get an outside view on the things that are going on in my life. If I have a problem or something I don’t feel comfortable telling people within my circle, I know that I can get a different perspective from someone else that has more experience in life than I do. To me, my mentor has always been more than one of my teachers and has made me extremely grateful that she offered me the opportunity to develop our relationship.
Going into our sixth year of meeting, at the beginning of my senior year, I was given the opportunity to become a mentor myself in a new school program by the name of Chieftain Buddies. For the program, similar to Teammates, any interested high school students would be paired with an elementary student and meet with them on a weekly basis—we would become their mentor, the person for them to look up to. The idea sparked my interest because I knew how much being on the mentee side of things had contributed to my life over the years. I thought that, although I was a senior and could only be in the program for the remainder of the school year, it would be worthwhile to give a younger student the same opportunity I was given.
I waited a few weeks, and I was paired with a first-grader to meet with every Tuesday. Then, I was able to start giving her the experience I was able to have, no matter what activities we did together. So far, we’ve played outside and in the gym with other students, colored in the library and talked about the most recent happenings in her life. Through being able to spend time and talk with a younger student, I have been given a feeling of fulfillment. It brightens my day exponentially to hear the excitement in her voice when she says she’s been waiting to tell me something or when I ask her what she wants to do that day and get a very enthusiastic response in return. Another thing that brightens my day is when my buddy gives me a hug at the end of our meeting. It makes me so unbelievably happy, and I can feel the impact I have on her—which is just another thing I’m grateful for.
Being both a mentee and a mentor has continued to show me how important it is to be there for another person. Being able to reduce my own stress while potentially being able to do the same for someone else always feels extremely rewarding. Whether it’s just to chat or go in-depth about feelings and how life is going, seeing the importance from both perspectives is something I know I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. Coming from someone who has had the utmost satisfaction from being both a mentor and a mentee, I recommend that, if given the chance, everyone should be either—or both.
