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Copy of Connected Futures: The Science of Building Social Capital for College Students

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  1. First, we'd like to learn a bit about you.
    1 Exercise
  2. Lesson 1: An Introduction to Mentors, Social Support, and Social Capital
    4 Topics
    |
    3 Excercises
  3. Lesson 2: Mapping Out Social Support and Building Social Capital
    11 Topics
    |
    1 Exercise
  4. Lesson 3: Navigating a Successful Mentoring Meeting
    6 Topics
    |
    1 Exercise
  5. Lesson 4: Conduct Your Interview
    3 Topics
    |
    1 Exercise
  6. Lesson 5: Mentoring Relationships in College
    7 Topics
    |
    3 Excercises
  7. Thank you!
Lesson 2, Topic 1
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What is a Mentor? How can they help me?

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A mentor is typically defined as an older or more experienced person — other than a person’s parents — who provides guidance and support to a younger or less experienced mentee. Mentors typically don’t include romantic partners.

But other than that, almost anyone can be a mentor. Sometimes people feel emotionally very close to their mentor, other times it’s more of a professional relationship. And mentoring relationships can grow in almost any setting — including extended families, schools, extracurricular activities, workplaces, or places of worship.

Relationships with mentors can take on lots of different forms:

  • A professor or instructor who provides extra academic support or career advice
  • An academic advisor who gave you information about general and major requirements and how to navigate college, often seeing you informally between meetings if you needed to ask a quick question
  • A family friend who helps you think through problems and challenges

Take a second to think about a person or people in your life that might fit the definition of a mentor. If no one comes to mind, that’s OK – that’s what this program is all about! Continue when you’re ready.