- Welcome to the Spring 2012 semester!
Recent Stories From Our Blog
“Always remember that your actions, no matter how small, can have a profound effect on a life touched unknowingly. Live to be the best that you can be, and don’t allow small mistakes to hold you back.”
When I initially consider who my mentors are, the first people who come to mind are teachers, parents, and other common role models. As most people do, I count many teachers, my parents, and my grandparents as mentors. All of these people have my best interest at heart, and strive to encourage me as life brings its various triumphs and challenges. For their efforts I am thankful, as I would not be the woman that I am today without all that I learned from them.
“Throughout life, I always want to help people. Becoming an instructor has given me the chance to change the lives of many. I thrive on the success of my students and work hard to do everything in my power to guide them in the direction of success.”
For me, mentoring is a relationship between a more experienced individual, a veteran in the field, and a less experienced individual, a rookie in the field. Through this relationship, the mentor oversees the rookie in action. Then the mentor gives advice on best practices to help the rookie become stronger in his or her field. Also, a mentor offers support for the rookie throughout their relationship. Kim Brooks, my supervisor here at Ivy Bridge, has been an excellent source for me during the time I have been teaching for Ivy Bridge College. She is always willing to give you the support you need and provides information on best practices. Kim has made my online teaching experience enjoyable. Outside of Ivy Bridge College, my father has been my mentor throughout my life. He always provides me with information on the best moves to make in life and supports me. I would not be who I am today without my father.
“I don’t want my students to be afraid to ask questions or contact me for any reason. There are no “dumb” questions! Being a mentor has definitely changed my life. I have a large group of people looking to me for guidance each and every day. It is unlike any other job I have ever had.”
Mentoring is all about shaping the life of a student. Students come to us from all walks of life. Some have been out of school for twenty years, and others for only a few months. My goal is for every student to leave my class having learned skills and information that they never had before. I try to channel the wisdom of the mentors I have had throughout my life and help students feel like they can do ANYTHING that they work toward in their lives.
“For anyone that may be interested in mentoring or working with people in general, the things that help me the most are going into it with your whole heart and always being truthful. ”
I am Keion L. Stella and in addition to being an Ivy Bridge student, I work for the United Methodist Community Center. My title here is Program Advocate. My job duties include, but are not limited to, truancy prevention, re-entry, veteran aide, mentoring, and visiting kids that are in the juvenile justice center. The parts that I love the most about my job is that I get to be hands-on with troubled youth, and the skills that I have learned through my life can play a major role in helping them.
Truancy prevention is when you work with the families of truant kids and help them in any way that would be beneficial to their child’s attendance in school. Whether it's providing clean clothes, helping with bills, giving food, etc. we will do whatever it takes for that child to become more productive. I am there for them in and out of court. I make sure the parents understand how severe that truancy is.
“During my career, I had a number of mentors along the way. Each mentor was unique and had their perspective on various components in life and law enforcement.”
My mentoring started nearly 25 years ago when I was a young and ambitious police dispatcher. The chief of police (and my mentor) came to me one day and suggested that I become a police officer. At 19 years of age I had not given a whole lot of thought to my future and I thought that I may just give this a shot, literally. I started in law enforcement full time in 1990 and progressed through the ranks to become a chief of police. During this time I worked very hard and obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree. I was also nominated and attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. I learned how important an education is if you want to become a leade, and realized that leaders are not born, they are made.
“While I often get the impression that some students are surprised by the progress that they make, they come to realize that hard work and not innate ability will ultimately determine success or failure.”
If you're currently enrolled in Foundations of Success or are planning on taking it soon, check out instructor Thomas Bush's insight on mentoring and what the course and his experience teaching it has taught him.
Foundations of Success, by Thomas Bush
Mentoring students at Ivy Bridge College has certainly been a privilege and a positive experience in my life. Not only do I get to see a tremendous amount of academic growth in the majority of my students, but I also am able to build relationships with them. I personally take great satisfaction in this fact because it’s nice to know that I can have some sort of an impact in another person’s scholarly journey. However, I would be remiss to take credit for such a reality. The nature and structure of the class that I teach has a great deal to do with these developments.
"We need mentors. They remind us that we’re worthy of the dreams we have for ourselves. We all deserve that."
Hi everyone,
Since this month is National Mentoring Month, I wanted to take a moment to thank some of the influential mentors I’ve had the pleasure of having in my own life. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to form relationships with many great mentors over the course of my education and career, but there are two who have had the greatest impact on my life and development, Linda and Phyllis.
In honor of National Mentoring Month we've asked some of our professors to let us know what mentoring and teaching means to them. As you go back to school this week and start posting in discussions, take some time to learn more about the people you're learning from!
James Perry, Math Instructor
"When we start a new semester, we start with a clean canvas. The picture we have at the end of the semester is created from the blending of all these colors. And the finished picture is a beautiful piece of art.”
I was in an abusive relationship throughout my twenties. In this marriage, I mothered three daughters before I was able to escape. When I became a single mother, I lived in subsidized housing while I got back on my feet. Within this community, I had many mentors, mostly other mothers struggling around me. Many of these women were from Somalia and Sudan. I learned a lot about mothering and loving myself from them. Their stories inspired me to teach writing in the community because I wanted them to be able to put their words to paper because their experiences were powerful and needed to be remembered. Eventually, I moved away from that world, but never forgot those women. As the years passed, I taught at various colleges in the area and often would teach students from the community I had once lived in. Occasionally, I even had the fortune of teaching the friends I had made. The words from one of these women made such an impression on me, “When I was home, I spoke the language, but was not allowed to speak my mind. When I moved to America, I could say whatever I thought, but I did not have the English words necessary.” I wanted to give her the words, and so I did.
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and here at Ivy Bridge College we're working to keep Dr. King's legacy of service alive by making service a part of our everyday lives. As part of National Mentoring Month, we've been sharing stories from our success coaches, instructors, and tutors but there's a lot more we can all do to take part in National Mentoring Month and the MLK Day of Service. Here's a list of things you can do to help us celebrate and spread the word about the importance of mentoring and service to your community...
Five Things You Can Do:
1. On January 26, take part in Thank a Mentor Day. Tell the mentors in your life--your coaches, teachers, family, and friends--what they mean to you. You can send them a message on the Ivy Bridge College Facebook page, send them an email, call them on the phone, or share your story by submitting a tribute online.
Where Are Our Students?
Grow
Helpful Links