Being a member of the Women In Engineering Pair Program

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Ashley Devore


Hello everyone, hope everyone is having a fantastic week! School is in full swing, and so many exciting things are going on! Here at Purdue University, organization callouts are in full swing; there is just so much going on! One really awesome group that I am in is the Women in Engineering Program’s (WIEP) Undergraduate Mentoring Program – called Mentors and Mentees (M&M). We just had our first meeting today and it was awesome!
               M&M connects older girls in engineering with younger girls in engineering. In each mentoring pair there is the mentor, the older girl, and the mentee, the younger girl.  Mentors are typically upperclassman, but sophomores can choose to be a mentor if they would like to as well. Mentees are freshmen and sophomores. The mentoring program participants meet once a month at monthly meetings, and pairs meet up once a week on their own. In addition, the program also holds social events such as arts and crafts, ice cream parties, and even an end of the year dance.
               One thing that M&M really focuses on is developing your coaching and mentoring skills. Even mentees get work on these skills, as they are really important in the professional world, and even in everyday life. During monthly meetings, we typically do some sort activity that allows us to practice our coaching and mentoring skills. For example, today our guest speaker gave us a workshop on how to properly coach someone, and then we practiced what she told us on our mentors/mentees.
               Another thing that M&M focuses on is developing professional skills. Some of our meetings are specifically about how to prepare for an interview or how to build your resume. These are really valuable and definitely help both mentors and mentees.

I joined the Women In Engineering M&M Program my freshmen year. At that time I was a mentee. I really loved having a mentee because she helped me through some tough times last year and helped show me all of the great resources that Purdue has to offer. This year, I am a mentor, and I cannot wait to start building my relationship with my mentee. I definitely recommend the M&M program to all freshmen girls because it is a great way to get to know older girls in engineering and is such an amazing resource. Plus you gain a new friend out it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A very (sub)objective review of dining options at Purdue

Understanding Purdue Housing

Top 10 Extracurriculars Purdue Students Want You to Join Outside of Engineering