Mentees & Mentors Program through the Women in Engineering Program

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Emma Mann

Without even knowing very much about the program, I applied to join the Mentees & Mentors Program (M&M) the summer before my freshman year of college.  I hoped that it would allow me to build connections with other students and gain some insight into what was ahead class-wise. It ended up being just that.

M&M is a program offered through the Women in Engineering Program (WIEP) that helps to foster mentoring relationships between female engineering students. This program allows students to share advice about engineering classes, college life, and career goals. M&M offers two distinct opportunities to get involved: Pair and Group. Pair matches a younger student with an older student based on major and personality in which the older student mentors the younger student. Group is less defined and set-up such that everyone has the opportunity to learn from everyone else. Additionally, group offers a small group option, in which participants break into smaller groups for various activities creating a close knit community within the group program.

My freshman year, I was involved in the group program. It was nice coming straight to Purdue and having the opportunity to ask upperclassmen in my major what certain classes were like and which professors were the best. Group gave me the opportunity to meet a bunch of students and although I don’t really keep in contact with anyone I met through the program that year, I still value the experiences and advice I received. (Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in the program my sophomore year because I didn’t have enough time in my schedule.)

This past year, I was involved in the pair program. Meeting topics this year included dinner etiquette, summer transitioning, and much more. Dinner etiquette was a very practical meeting. We learned everything from the difference between a salad fork and a dinner fork to which glass one is supposed to take. That meeting also had a section about interview appropriate attire. All of these things were very practical skills. The summer transitioning meeting focused around how to get an internship, research opportunity, or study abroad opportunity. A panel spoke about their own experiences finding those opportunities. Aside from meeting topics though, each meeting has a social aspect and a group activity of sorts. This allows connections to be built between the participants, further building the mentoring relationship.

The highlight of every year with M&M though is the March meeting in honor of Women’s History Month. For this meeting, the group and pair programs come together for a special dinner at Purdue Memorial Union with a special guest speaker. This semester, we had the opportunity to hear from Sue Ellsperman, the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.

Overall, the mentoring I have gained from fellow participants, guest speakers, and program staff while being a part of M&M has been an important part of my time at Purdue.