I knew one thing for certain going into this summer: I wasn’t going to spend it back at home.
A year ago, I was doing an engineering internship at an oil refinery back in my hometown, good ol' Warren, PA, population of just over 8,000. Being raised in such a small town led my family to know just about every major business owner and executive in the area, hence why I was able to acquire an internship right after freshman year. Even though I was making a decent amount of money and gaining an “invaluable experience”, as some would say, my life felt empty. All of my friends were working long hours like me and didn’t have much motivation to hang out in the evenings after work. Most nights after work, I would find myself stuck at home reading books or trolling Facebook to see what my friends from college were up to. To boot, I'd had my license suspended from an underage conviction and couldn’t drive myself anywhere. It was a pretty lonely time, and I promised myself I wouldn’t make the mistake of staying home the next summer.
When I went down for Arts Fest last year, I met up with quite a few guys in my fraternity who had stayed in State College for the summer. Some were taking classes, others were working, and two of them had become LEAP Mentors for the freshmen who did summer session. I asked these guys to explain what they did as “mentors”, and they said that they were basically in charge of a group of 20-25 kids who took the same two classes together. They just had to organize events for them and make sure they were adjusting well to college life. If nothing else, my fraternity brothers said it would look great on a resume. That was more than enough to get me interested.
I decided on a whim to apply in late November for the mentorship. If for one reason or another I didn’t get it, I had already convinced my parents to let me take summer classes in State College over the summer since my apartment lease didn’t expire until the end of July. Doing anything at school was going to be much more entertaining than hanging out in my living room with my Dad.
The application to be a mentor consisted of general questions about my personal interests and academic performance, and then a couple of short essays at the end. It wasn't any more work to fill out than a regular job application, except that I had to attend an information session about the program to be eligible to apply. In January, I was asked to come in for an interview with the LEAP program directors. We talked about the goals of the program, why I wanted to become an mentor, and then they put me on the spot with a few tough questions, like, “Have you ever faced an ethical dilemma, and how did you overcome it?” A few weeks later, I received an email of congratulations and an offer to be a mentor for the summer of 2014.
Before the freshmen moved in, the other mentors and I had a mandatory three days of training that went from 9 a.m. to after 6 p.m. each day. Our first training exercise took place at Shaver’s Creek, an environmental center about 15 minutes outside of State College. There, we did a bunch of icebreaker games to get to know the other 50 mentors. Coming into it, I didn’t quite know what to think of the program, but my first impression of everybody was very welcoming and friendly. I guess if you were willing to put up with 25 freshman for an entire summer, you sort of had to be.
After working on a cleanup project as our last team-building exercise, we got on the bus to head back to South Halls where each mentor had his or her own single room. We also received the luxury of a meal plan, which I knew I would be taking full advantage of. The only downside was that Pollock and The Mix were going to be the only dining spots open, along with a few places in the HUB. After dinner, we were free to do whatever we wanted, and just had to make sure we woke up on time for training the next day. That night, we made a GroupMe with all the mentors and it started to blow up. Literally 500-700 messages were getting sent per day, with everybody getting involved in the conversation. It made us much more comfortable with each other, knowing that all the mentors wanted to be good friends.
That Sunday came along too quickly, and before I could even get my morning coffee, parents were bustling into the parking lot with industrial-sized plastic tubs. The mentors had to help all the summer session kids with move-in for the most of the day, only getting a break for lunch. We were all over Pollock and South Halls pushing carts around, finding room keys, and answering nervous parents’ questions. In the process, some of us were lucky enough to help our own mentees move in, and had a chance to talk to them before the first group meeting.
Later in the afternoon, once all the kids were settled into their dorms, I met my group in the Eisenhower Auditorium for our first meeting. The kids came from all over Pennsylvania, from Long Island, and one girl was all the way from San Diego. I explained to them how they would be taking the same two classes together as a “pride” (another name for our group) and also explained my role as a mentor to them for the summer. At first, the kids seemed disinterested and anxious, probably thinking of all the better things they could be doing than listening to my lecture. I decided to let them do their own thing for the first couple of days before their classes started so they could meet other kids on the their floor. I could tell that with my group, it was going to take a little time for us to get close.
The first day of class, I met them on Mifflin Road to walk them over to the Thomas Building. It's literally right across the street, but as a freshman, I would not have had a clue how to get there either. They were taking CAS 100 and English 015 for the summer, two classes most kids try to knockout early, and let me tell you, they weren’t too excited for the public speaking aspect of CAS. After the first two days, they were already grumbling about the amount of reading and homework assigned. “Please, wait until you are taking five classes and have actual exams” was all I could think.
One night during the first week, I asked in our pride GroupMe if any of them would be up for going to dinner with me. Only one girl responded. We were off to a terrific start. I backed off a bit and let them continue to experience things on their own. I wasn’t going to shove LEAP down their throat and make them hate me; that would ruin the entire summer. This past week, I started to do one-on-one interviews with each kid in our pride. It was a chance for them to open up a bit to me about how they were adjusting to college, and for me to see what sort of activities I could plan for us to do as a group. It amazed me to hear each one of them thank me for being “laid-back” and understanding. A couple of them explained how their friends in other prides were doing a lot of “mandatory” activities and getting sick of it. I guess I had read them right and was pacing correctly so far. But others expressed how homesick they were, and that they weren’t making as many friends as they thought they’d be. This is where the real mentoring comes in - helping the ones who are having a tougher time getting used to college life. It can be very intimidating being thrown into an entirely new social environment, barely knowing anybody from back home. After hearing each kid’s personal story, I’ve realized that this is why the LEAP program exists and continues to be successful.
I’ve only been a mentor for two weeks so far, but I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I’ve met a ton of down-to-earth people, I get to live and eat on campus for free, and I have an opportunity to make a real difference in these freshmen’s lives. I still have the rest of the summer to spend with them, but I know I’m going to love every minute of it...except when they come home drunk and puke all over the residence halls.
