The Boston College Women’s Center created a new mentorship program called Thrive, which gives sophomore girls the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to their lives and join a community of other BC women. The program has eight mentoring groups, each made up of two senior mentors and eight sophomore girls. Ascend, a program created by the Center for Student Formation, served the same purpose in years past, but was recently changed into a program for freshmen. The creation of this new program is a good way for the Women’s Center to promote mentorship.
With the change of Ascend to freshmen, it is commendable to create a new program that serves the same role for sophomores. Before this, students would have to switch from being the mentee to the mentor after freshman year, but this allows students to better transition to their upperclassman years. It provides an important service to sophomore women and opens up a new opportunity to improve life at BC.
As Victoria Garcia, a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center, said, “We’re really looking to have meaningful, authentic conversations that maybe you’re not necessarily having with your roommate or when you’re going out on the weekends.” By bringing this program to sophomore women and improving its scope, the Women’s Center continues to respond to student concerns and create positive programs.
The Women’s Center has promoted the program through bulletin boards and social media, and accepts applications on a rolling basis. This approach is a good way to spread information about the program and reach the most students possible.
Another improvement of this program is the change from a previous Women’s Center one-on-one mentorship program, Duo. While one-on-one mentoring can be a very useful thing, it was decided that it wasn’t as productive, since counselors couldn’t be sure that each mentee was receiving the same attention and benefiting equally. This new group situation helps remedy that issue and helps to ensure that students receive the maximum benefit from joining the program.
As Thrive begins and grows, students will hopefully move through the program and become mentors themselves. After Ascend, Thrive provides another mentorship opportunity, after which students should be prepared to take on the role of mentors themselves.
“We hope to perpetuate the legacy of giving back to the BC community and always wanting to have these conversations about self and identity,” Garcia said.
Going forward, the program serves a good purpose by encouraging these students to contribute to the future of the program and provide the same mentorship opportunity for younger students in the future.
Featured Image by Julia Hopkins / Heights Editor
