One of the most beneficial and popular aspects of ITA is its professional mentoring program. Students last year commented to ITA staff on how much they liked spending time with their mentors, saying that their mentor "believed in" them, "listened" to them, and they learned a lot from them.
ITA is currently seeking enthusiastic UW staff members to be volunteer mentors for the incoming class of Freshmen, the Class of 2010 (30 students). As a mentor, you would meet with your mentee face-to-face and electronically to discuss any number of issues of interest to both of you, and to provide general support and encouragement. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A "TECHNO-GEEK" TO BE A GOOD ITA MENTOR! All you need is the time, the desire, and ears to listen...
Time Commitment
As we are all busy professionals, this is the most commonly asked question by prospective mentors. The time commitment for ITA is substantial, but very flexible. Whenever possible, we ask mentors to try to spend 2-3 hours per month with their mentees throughout the four years of the program. This time could take many forms: mentor/mentee lunch meetings when the students are on campus, phone calls, email communications, or scheduled meetings outside of ITA (with parent permission).
We schedule mentor/mentee lunch meetings for each date that the kids are on campus (2 hours per month), and some mentors find this the easiest way to keep in contact. However, it is understood that mentors will not be able to make it to every lunch meeting (some make it to very few). We just need to know when you can't, so that your mentee knows. And we'd hope that you'd be able to communicate in other ways when lunch meetings are missed.
An alternative to having lunch meetings is to come visit your mentee in ITA computer labs or help tutor during study hours. Your knowledge & expertise is very welcome!
ITA sessions are on Saturdays, because kids are in school during the week. Mentor training/orientation will take place during a weekday in October, and the first day mentors will meet their mentees will be in November (date TBA).
How to Apply
If you're interested in being a mentor for an ITA student, please contact Excell Williams, our Academic Support Specialist
Phone:
(608) 265-4297
Email:
excell.williams@doit.wisc.edu