With great certainty, the first year as a university student is highly anticipated. You finally get to have a taste of freedom, a feel of what it is to go out into the world on your own, away from parents, guardians, or caretakers. For many, it is a stepping-stone to a unique path of personal and professional development and success. Yet some of us fail to ensure and reassure ourselves that we are ready. How prepared are you to face this new leg of the race? We must keep in mind that careful preparation and completing the journey step by step is imperative for success. Therefore, we all need guidance, for sometimes, we make mistakes.
To ensure that students are provided with as much assistance as required, the Humanities Guild Committee has started the
Owl Mentorship Programme. The Owl Mentorship Programme is an initiative with the intent to incorporate and facilitate students with resources made readily available to provide stability and peace of mind in the form of guidance and counsel from The UWI’s upper-classmen who have already lived and or mastered the toils of university life. Essentially, the program allows students to engage, offer, and receive guidance to curve all unwanted academic results.
The
Mentorship Programme encompasses two types of applicants; Mentors and Mentees. Mentors are responsible for providing guidance, sharing experiences to teach lessons, motivate students to take their responsibilities head-on, and provide additional support if their mentee falters. The mentees are those on the receiving end of this guidance, where they will learn about university facilities, resources, clubs, and how to avoid making common mistakes.
However, the mentorship program not only supports mentees but teaches mentors to hone their leadership skills and learn how to work with others while gaining new perspectives from their mentees. Mentors will also gain volunteer experience, build their resume, and develop their organizational, motivational, and listening skills.
If you have eyes to see the light and ears to hear day and night, you are aware that we all have something, it may not be much, but we always have something to look forward to. We are faced with a new modality of learning, but we must learn no matter how bittering. The Faculty of Humanities and Education’s Guild Committee strives to make it as festive as possible. Remember the motto, “
Each one Teach one.” Each of us has the responsibility to teach one another the lessons we have learned, for we all are on the road heading to success.
~Hasani Monroe