By Mary James, Guest Columnist
Throughout my whole academic career, I have gained mentors that have not only shaped the student I am but helped to shape the person I am. As I prepare to graduate in May, I cannot help but think of the mentors that I gained during my years at Gettysburg. I also feel compelled to share what I learned about the importance of connecting with professors and gaining mentors during your years at college with the incoming freshman class.
Looking back, I wish that I had someone who would have helped me navigate the process of getting to know my professors and utilizing their mentorship throughout my time at Gettysburg. I am grateful that I was able to connect with my professors and in the end gain several mentors, but I wanted to share why I think it is so important.
I will admit that it might feel intimidating during your first semester when your professor first walks into the classroom — I definitely felt that way. I really connected with the teachers that I had in high school and I almost convinced myself that I would not connect with the professors the same way that I connected with some of my teachers in high school. I am glad to report that I was very wrong, but it took a little time to get to that point.
I remember walking into classes and being a bit intimidated by the professor, especially in those relatively large introduction classes that freshmen often take during their first year. I was always scared to do poorly because I did not want to let any of my professors down. I was still nervous to ask for help, but as I got used to it, it helped me gain influential mentorship. I advise all incoming students to face the nerves and ask your professors for help if you need it. Your professors want to help you and in my experience, they have been extremely willing to answer any questions about clarifications or confusion.
Whether you decide to reach out in person or via email, do not let fear stop you from getting the help you need. In my experience, asking for help not only helped me improve on what I was struggling with but helped the professor assess how I was doing in the course and provide them with more information so they could help me to achieve my goals.
I mentioned emailing professors because sometimes that is the only option. While I grew to prefer chatting with my professors in person, I was a freshman when the pandemic started and we were sent home. In that case, I had no choice but to connect with my professors via email and Zoom. At first, online learning was scary, but I am so grateful to every professor that helped me through the pandemic and online learning. It was a huge adjustment for me to transition to fully online learning and there were really hard moments where I felt discouraged, but it is thanks to my professors who stayed in contact with me and supported me through it all that I managed the changes and still found success while learning off campus. If meeting in person is too intimidating at first, reach out by email. I truly believe that reaching out in any form and holding honest conversations with your professors is the first step to gaining mentors.
Utilizing extra help and office hours have also played a huge role in my positive experience with my professors while at Gettysburg. I became the type of student that goes to office hours often two or three times in the same week to see the same professor if needed. That might be partial to the several virtual semesters, but once I returned to campus, I found myself in office hours however frequently I needed to go. This is probably the most important piece of advice that I can give: go to office hours as much as you need to.
I was hesitant at first because I was intimidated about talking in person to my professors but having that scheduled time to talk about questions or concerns that you have will pay off in a major way later on. You will not only get the help you need for the class, but I have found that it is in these meetings that real connections with professors are made. Thanks to office hours, I have connected with many professors and gained the confidence to open up to them about struggles I might have been having or experiencing related to the course and sometimes outside of the classroom. We all go through hard times and that impacts the work we do in class. If you build that relationship with your professors, they can be there for you through those difficulties. I definitely was not opening up during the first meeting during office hours, but after several meetings, I felt comfortable enough to be honest with my professors.
There have been many professors that I have had the pleasure of getting to know really well and connecting with and for that, I am so grateful. I am proud to call those professors that I got to know well my mentors. I consider them mentors because of all that they have taught me during my years at Gettysburg, not just about being a good student, but about being a good person and being my best self. These mentors have pushed me to be the best version of me that I can be and have supported me and believed in me through the good moments and the rough moments.
Looking back, it is almost funny to me that I was intimidated by them on the first day of class, because four years later I just had tea with one of them to chat and catch up. What started out as me being too afraid to talk to them, led to me seeking advice from them and looking forward to running into them in the hallways or in between classes. I am so grateful for the ways that my mentors have inspired me during my time at Gettysburg.
In the end, I owe these opportunities to gain mentors from my time at Gettysburg. I truly believe that part of getting a Gettysburg education includes the incredible professors and the experience of getting to know them and gaining mentorship. I am a better version of myself because of the mentors that I gained during my years at Gettysburg and I am so grateful for all of the opportunities that they provided me with and for everything that I learned from them.
The best advice that I can give to any incoming freshman or current freshman is to get to know your professors because they really can make a difference in your experience at Gettysburg. I am extremely grateful for every professor that supported me during my time at Gettysburg and for the professors that became my mentors and helped me get to where I am today.
