CMU School of Drama


Monday, August 27, 2018

Mentors play critical role in quality of college experience, new poll suggests

Salon.com: In order to have a rewarding college experience, students should build a constellation of mentors.

This constellation should be a diverse set of faculty, staff and peers who will get students out of their comfort zones and challenge them to learn more — and more deeply — than they thought they could. Students should begin to build this network during their first year of college.

1 comment:

Ari Cobb said...

I’ve always believed that a teacher makes or breaks the class, and the overall experience of school. The best times I’ve had in school usually correlated with the times I had the best student/teacher relationships. They were other adults who’ve had experience in the world and could help you out when you most needed help. They could almost be considered secondary parents, without the attachment of having to live with them. My best teacher was my old TD, Maylan Thomas, who inspired me to keep going with theatre and that I can make a career out of it. He believed in me and got me to where I am now. When I have teachers that I can’t connect with, or they’re not great at what they’re doing, it’s incredibly hard for me to find their class rewarding, no matter how interested I originally was in the subject. I love how this article illustrates the importance of building these kinds of connections, and how it can improve school life drastically, even going into how students can create them in their schools. As they say at the very end of the article, “Small steps like these can uncover mutual interests and shared passions and, ultimately, lead to the kinds of relationships that make a big difference in college — and for a lifetime.”