Not long ago, I received notice that I was not accepted as a mentor for next year. Put in a PC way, I am very disappointed in their decision; but frankly, I felt what some people call “shafted.” I could say that my saga with the first-year interest group (FIG) program started off when I got accepted as a mentor. Out of luck, I was able to land myself into a residential FIG mentor position… with a group of liberal arts majors. I was a bit overwhelming, but I did whatever I could to help them out.
When the time came to reapply as a returning mentor, I sprang for it because I was enthusiastic and really wanted to continue helping students after my experience as an orientation advisor (which I thought was even better than FIG). Even after everybody received their assignments, I did not receive mine. I pushed on it every month or so until the beginning of the Fall 2007 semester when I received notice that there were not enough FIGs for all mentors to be a mentor (a claim which some folks thought was suspicious because some had two FIGs to mentor). Instead, they made an offer for me to photograph FIG events because they wanted to keep me in the loop. To be a good sport, I agreed in hopes that they will take that gesture as me being serious about the program and take that into consideration when I reapply, which I did, hoping for nothing but the best. As a matter of fact, I felt that I would be doing future students a disservice if I didn’t put my name into the hat.
I think that I was not accepted because my leadership style is different from something they wanted and that I tend to do a few things that could make people uncomfortable. Indeed, I tried things like taking a class with some students in my group of students, and there were other things I fell flat on my face with. With everything said and done, this is my post to say that I’ve fulfilled my end of the contract. I do not plan on continuing as a photographer because I feel that better pictures come from those who are actively engaged in an event. Instead, I will focus more of my efforts on the solar car team and some personal projects which I hope will make me a better engineer.
