Debate/Mentoring Program

Hey,

I'm wicked tired right now. I stayed up until 3 a.m. preparing for the SGA debate today. I honestly went into the debate pretty nervous because I had been told multiple times that Mike Schneider, the opposing SGA Presidential candidate, is the best debater in this school. Well, it just so happens that 'Gate has one of the best debate teams in the world, so it was like David meets Goliath heading into debate.

But you know what? Javi and I did pretty well. We made great points today about the feasibility of our initiatives and how they represent what this school really needs. Granted, I was pretty nervous and reflected that during the debate, but I threw out some great statistics and anecdotes that helped me move along.

I mentioned the importance of a student mentoring program for first-years, in which upperclassmen could mentor first-years and help them at Colgate if they encounter trouble. After speaking with Mark Thompson (director of Conant House) and Dawn LaFrance(started programs at Conant and works there), they were VERY receptive of the idea, saying that it was a great plan and there is enough interest from both sides(upperclassmen and first-years) to get this done. I think if we work on this in the summer, definitely with Dean Low, this could be done and be introduced at Orientation. I think something like this would be enormously helpful to first-years that are having trouble adapting to Colgate. 37-40 percent of students in a graduating class go to Conant. Honestly, I think that's 37-40 percent too many. A mentoring program could also really help Conant in terms of helping students find alternate support via students, and Conant could also work on other initiatives to meet student's needs. Quite frankly, from what I've heard about Conant from others who regularly visit there, it's an amazing resource for help. So I think working with them to pull off this program will be both feasible, practical, and most importantly, extraordinarily beneficial to students.

Peace.