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Introduction to Mentoring Component Goals

Action Step

Date Budget

Mentor Training train mentors at lunch/dinner Wed., September 19 (50)$500

Noche de Familia students/parents/mentors dinner Thurs., October 25 (170) $2,000

*T-shirts, Noche de Familia and Celebracion budget to be covered by the Student Activities fee.

*Fall Stipend request to complete activities: $5,000 for 15-17 hours per week of planning and
conducting evening programs.

2013 Spring Activities Action Step Date Budget

Mentor Activity cultural activity Thursday, February 28 (100) $500

Celebracion Dinner students/parents/mentors Tuesday, May 14 (170) $2,000

*Spring Stipend request to complete activities: $5,000 for 15-17 per week of planning and
conducting evening programs.

CTN Puente believes in a strong intervention Mentoring
component that targets potential issues that may evolve into

Sample Assignment: Mentor Meeting Conflicts

lower expectations and discontinuance in the program.
Therefore the CTN
Mentor component seeks to help strengthen bonds with mentor-
mentee relationships. The program does the following:

• Matches students with professionals in the community on
the basis of personality, profession and gender.

• Helps students develop professional/networking skills.
• Develops social and cultural capital—emphasizing the

value of “Giving back” to our community.
• Recruitment of Puente Mentors who are professional and

educational volunteers who are trained and matched with
students.
• Encourages students’ motivation to reach their educational
and career goals.
• Provides student access to successful community role
models.
• Fosters the development of professional networking skills.
• Develops student social and cultural capital.

Goal: As part of the Mentor-mentee relationship, the Puente Program understands
that open communication is important toward solidifying a successful program and
a viable Puente Mentoring system.

PURPOSE: To help mentors/students to…
• accept greater personal responsibility for the outcomes in their mentoring
relationship with each other.
• identify various factors that influence the decision making process.
• identify ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their
relationship.
• recognize that working interdependently can lead to more successful results.

SUPPLIES/SET UP
• HANDOUT: The Missed Mentor Meeting (case study appended below)
• Pens
• Blackboard or flip chart
• Chalk or markers

DIRECTIONS

1. Have participants read “The Missed Mentor Meeting” aloud, taking turns reading
paragraphs until the reading is complete. Say: “At the bottom of your handout is a
list of the characters in this story. Rank them in the order of their responsibility for
the missed meeting between Karla and her mentor. Give a different score to each
character. One (1) is most responsible and five (5) is least responsible. Be prepared
to explain your choices.” (5 minutes)

2. Place participants in small groups of 3-4 and say: “Compare the numbers you
assigned to each character with those of your group members. Explain your rationale
for your scores. Then come to a group consensus as to how each character should be
ranked. You will be sharing your results with the other groups.” While the groups
are working, write across the top of the board/flip chart a number representing each
group (eg. Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, etc.). Down the left side of the board/flip
chart, list the characters in the case study (eg. Karla, Lilia, Mario, etc.). (10 minutes)

3. Ask a spokesperson from each group to give the group’s ranking of the characters,
recording each group’s response on the board. (5 minutes)

4. After all responses are recorded, note similarities and differences between each
group’s choices. Say: “As we can see, no two groups ranked the characters in
exactly the same way; therefore, I’d like to give each group the opportunity to
explain its choices. Let’s begin by looking at the person you held most responsible
for the missed meeting. Who would like to begin?” [Instructor’s Note: If all groups
choose the same character as number one (most responsible), begin with the
character they think is least responsible. There is often more diversity of opinion
here.] (5 minutes).

5. Allow each group an opportunity to explain its position on a particular character
in more detail and to rebut opposing views. As time allows, invite groups to explain
their positions on other characters. (10–20 minutes)

6. Debrief the discussion by means of journal writing and/or group discussion, using
the following questions: From this discussion, what did you learn or relearn about
personal responsibility? What did you learn or relearn about the factors that can
influence decision making? How can you use this information to improve your own
effectiveness in the mentoring relationship? What is the life lesson here? (5–10
minutes)

Case Study: The Missed Mentor Meeting

At the Noche de Familia dinner, KARLA was nervous but excited to meet her
mentor. When she was introduced to LILIA DIAZ, a business professional, Karla
was so intimidated by this well-dressed, confident woman, she didn’t know what to
say. However, Ms. Diaz was very friendly and encouraged Karla to share a little bit
about herself.

At the end of the evening, Karla and Lilia exchanged phone numbers, and discussed
where they would meet for their first “official” get-together. Lilia asked, “Why don’t
you meet me at five o’clock next Wednesday at the Starbucks across the street from
where I work downtown?”

Karla lived in Floresville, nowhere near downtown. Hesitantly, she explained, “I
don’t have a car to get there.”

“I’m sure there is someone who can give you a ride. It’s okay if you’re a couple of
minutes late; just be sure to call me.” She gave Karla her office number.

“Uh, okay,” Karla agreed.

The following Wednesday, Karla was eating lunch with her boyfriend MARIO in
the PAC cafeteria. Mario had not been very supportive of her going to college and
was especially frustrated with the extra time that Karla spent at Puente activities in
the evenings and on weekends even though they only occurred once or twice a
month. “Why do you have to go to school?” he always complained. “Aren’t I good
enough for you? You think you’re gonna find someone better than me? I’m the one
that’s been with you since high school. When you were having problems with your
parents, who came and picked you up? Me, that’s who. Now you act like I’m not
important, spendin’ all your time with your school friends.”

At that moment, Karla’s cell phone rang. It was Lilia. “Hi, Karla! I just wanted to
make sure that we’re still on for tonight.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Karla, glancing nervously at Mario.

“Great! See you at Starbucks.”

Hanging up her phone, Karla wondered how she had forgotten about the meeting
with her mentor. When she told Mario that they couldn’t hang out this evening

because she had an appointment with her new mentor and asked him to take her, he
blew up.

“Yeah, right! You think I’m gonna help you out when you disrespect me like this?
Find your own ride!” Mario cursed and stormed off.

Karla was torn between going after Mario to try to smooth things over and finding a
way to get to her appointment with Lilia. Near tears, Karla called her friend
CRISTINA, another Puente student, for help. Cristina said, “Don’t worry about
Mario. You don’t need him. I’ll pick you up in front of the campus library at 4:30
.”

Karla was ready to go at 4:30 ; however, fifteen minutes passed before Cristina
pulled into the parking lot. “Sorry. I had to pick up my brother at school and take
him home. Now all I have to do is stop and get gas, and we will be on our
way.” Karla glanced nervously at her watch. By the time they had pulled out of the
gas station, it was 5:00 . Karla pulled her phone out of her purse and called the work
number Lilia had given her.

SUSAN, the receptionist at Lilia’s workplace let the phone ring a couple of times
before she picked it up. “Who’s calling at this time? Don’t they know we are
closed?” she thought with frustration as she answered. Karla explained her situation,
and Susan said that she would call Lilia and let her know that Karla was running
late. Just as she hung up, though, Susan suddenly remembered that it was her turn
to pick up the kids at daycare, and she rushed out the door.

At 5:15 , Lilia, sitting at Starbucks, checked her cell phone one more time for
messages. There were none. Frustrated and even a little angry, she looked around
one more time for Karla, picked up her briefcase, and left. At 5:30, Karla and
Cristina pulled up to Starbucks.

***

Listed below are the characters in this story. Rank them in the order of their
responsibility for the missed meeting between Karla and her mentor. Give a different
score to each character. Be prepared to explain your choices.

Most responsible 1 2 3 4 5 Least responsible

____ Karla ____ Susan ____ Lilia Diaz

____ Cristina ____ Mario

Puente Mentor Recruitment Letter—Victoria Marron

Victoria Marron
Lee College
Mentor Coordinator
P.O. Box 818
281-425-6501
[email protected]

August 26, 2014

Good afternoon,

I wanted to share with you all and request your assistance with our PUENTE Mentoring Program here at Lee
College. I can proudly state that we will be the 5th community college in Texas to have this nationally recognized

program.

The PUENTE Project helps to prepare educationally underserved students for college admission and success
through its combination of accelerated instruction, intensive academic counseling and mentoring by members of
the community. This project is based out of California and branching out to Texas, its second state in the U.S. to
have Puente. For additional information please visit heir site at http://www.puente.net/.

The criteria for students are as follows: higher;
(1) first year college student; course).
(2) must be a student declaring a STEM major or General Studies;
(3) must be seeking an Associate’s degree, preferably a Bachelor’s degree or
(4) 1st generation is a preference but, not mandatory; and
(5) have an interest in Mexican American Studies (this is their Humanities credit

We will have 2 cohorts totaling 30 students and I will need at least 25 dedicated adult mentors. The requirements
are to attend an informational session September 22, 2014 from 6-7pm to be held here in the Student Center of
the Lee College campus; commit to a minimum of 9 contact hours with the student for the duration of this school
year; complete an application and be willing to make a difference in a young person’s life.

I am available to schedule informational sessions at your place of business if there are more than 5 employees
willing to attend. If you and/or your employees are unable to commit to 9 hours a semester but, are willing to be
a part of our database as an on-call volunteer for speaking engagements we would greatly appreciate that as
well.

Please let me know if you have any additional comments or questions.

Victoria Marron
HSI STEM Grant Director
& Puente Coordinator

Sample Assignment: Peer-Mentor-Mentee

Puente Peer Mentor-Mentee Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is for you to experience not only the
benefits of being a peer mentor and mentee, but also the challenges that
come with each role.

For the first 2 weeks, one of you will act as mentor, and one of you will act
as mentee.

 You are required to meet with each other once in a 2 week period
 Your meeting must take place off campus
 You must work out your meeting time/location over phone or
email ONLY
○ You cannot arrange the logistics of when you are going to
meet in class (or in person)

 After 2 weeks, reverse your roles and start over

******************

After you had the opportunity to be both a mentor and mentee, write about
your experience (minimum one page, typed and double spaced):

I. As a mentor:
1. Describe your role as a mentor. Was it a positive or negative
experience?
2. Did you feel you spent enough time to connect with your mentee?
3. Did you find this role to be easy?
4. How was your connection with your mentee?
5. What were some challenges that you faced in bonding with your
mentee?
6. How do you think this exercise will help you in meeting your Puente
Mentor?

II. As a mentee:

1. Describe your role as a mentee. Was it a positive or negative
experience?

2. Did you feel you spent enough time to connect with your mentor?
3. Did you find this role to be easy?
4. How was your connection with your mentor?
5. What were some challenges that you faced in bonding with your

mentor?
6. How do you think this exercise will help you in meeting your Puente

Mentor?

Sample Assignment: Mentor Interview Essay

Goal: In conjunction with the Mentor coordinator, students will write an essay
in their Puente English course detailing the experience with their assigned
mentor. Mentoring is part of the three components that make up Puente’s
unique structure, and imbedded in the Puente curricula are exercises that
highlight this experience.

Mentor Interview Paper: You will interview your mentor and write a 5-7 page
typed paper focusing on one of the following:

1) A portrait of your mentor as a learner. This may include the challenges your
mentor has had to face, goals your mentor has accomplished, regrets, if any,
your mentor may have, and, most importantly, what is to be learned from your
mentor’s experiences. Write about what your mentor values most about
education and why. You may consider in what ways your values are similar
to or different from your mentor’s.

2) A portrait of a mentor/mentee relationship. Your mentors may consider
someone who has mentored them when they were younger. What influence
did that mentor have on their development/maturation? Out of this portrait
may come general observations of what makes for an effective mentor/mentee
relationship?

Your paper must include at least one quote from the research excerpt provided in
class.

Initial Writing

Part I: Free write (For both Mentor and Mentee) 10
Minutes

Write about your educational experiences. Whatever comes to mind? Don’t worry
about grammar, spelling, or even about making perfect sense. You are just writing
to write—you are just putting thoughts onto the page. If you truly feel stuck,
however, here are some possible areas of exploration:

1) Where you went to school? Why?
2) Positive or negative experiences in the classroom.
3) Challenges you have had to face in education.
4) Other than the classroom, where you discovered your love of learning. At

home, work, during travels, doing service work, etc?

5) The mentors in your lives, and how they helped you to make transitions in
your study habits, work habits, or ways of thinking. The ways in which they
encouraged and challenged you.

6) How do you think other see you as a mentor?

Part II: Mentors Read/Mentees Listen 15 Minutes

Mentor will share free write. Students will listen carefully. They will find two
strong lines in their mentor’s work and share that with the mentor. They will also
write down (on the back of this page) three questions which have been sparked by
this free write. As the mentor shares, students should jot down notes.

If there is any extra time, students may ask other questions about their mentor’s
educational experiences. They can be questions unrelated to the free write.

Part III: Mentees Read/Mentors Listen 10 Minutes

Students will share free write. Mentors will listen carefully. They will find two
strong lines and share that with their mentee. They will also write down three
questions which have been sparked by this free write. Consider this an opportunity
for conversation and for getting to know one another better.

Part IV: Sharing 5-10 Minutes

Share something that you have learned about your partner. It should be something
that you admire or something that you hope to learn more about.

Strong Lines:

1)

2)

Sample Letter to New Mentor Coordinator—Diane Lerma

August 4, 2014
Dear (Add name)
Welcome to a very unique and growing familia in Texas – the Puente
familia.
I am glad you have accepted the role of Mentor Coordinator on your
campus. The responsibility will be challenging at times, but well worth
it! Speaking from experience, the mentor coordinator role is fun and
rewarding. You will meet a lot of new and interesting people. Be
prepared to make new friends and grow professionally. I never could
have imagined the wonderful experiences of serving as mentor
coordinator and am sure it will be the same for you.
Although we may be miles apart, I’m just a phone call away from
providing you with any further assistance with this special endeavor.
My best wishes for a successful academic year!
Your Puente Sister in SA,

Diane Lerma

Sample Reading Assignment: Who Mentored Whom?

Prominent Americans Recall Their Mentors

Excerpted from The Person Who Changed My Life: Prominent Americans Recall
Their Mentors. Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Editor.

Walter Cronkite: My Mentor, My Teacher
“I went to San Jacinto High School in Houston, Texas, in the 1930s, and was
fortunate to come in contact with a man who would inspire me to become a career
print and broadcast journalist. Fred Birney was a pioneer in high school
journalism. Very few high schools at that time even taught journalism, and many
schools didn't have their own student newspaper.

“Fred talked the Houston Board of Education into allowing him to teach a journalism
class once a week at three local high schools, one of which was San Jacinto. He was
a newspaperman of the old school and taught us a great deal about reporting and
writing. He also became a sponsor of the San Jacinto High School newspaper, the
Campus Cub. Under his tutelage, we published it monthly, whereas it had previously
been published in a casual manner, just three or four times a year. During my junior
year, I was the sports editor of the Campus Cub and its chief editor in my senior
year...

“He was well-connected with the three newspapers in Houston. During the summer
of my junior year, he secured his interested students jobs as copy boys and girls with
the Houston Post.

“We exchanged several letters until his death, shortly after my high school
graduation. He taught me so much in those high school classes, and by securing me
those early jobs, he cemented my desire to be a reporter for the rest of my life. He
was my major inspiration. I always credit Fred Birney for my career.”

James Earl Jones: My Mentor, My Professor
“I was raised by my grandparents, and I would say that my grandfather was, and
still is, my hero. Outside of the family, my most influential role model was a high
school English teacher, Donald Crouch. Professor Crouch was a former college
teacher who had worked with Robert Frost, among others. He had retired to a farm
near the small Michigan town where I lived, but when he discovered that there was
a need for good teachers locally, he came to teach at my small agricultural high
school.

“Growing up, I had a hard time speaking because I was a stutterer and felt self-
conscious. Professor Crouch discovered that I wrote poetry, a secret I was not
anxious to divulge, being a typical high school boy. After learning this, he
questioned me about why, if I loved words so much, I couldn't say them out loud.
One day I showed him a poem I had written, and he responded to it by saying that it
was too good to be my own work, that I must have copied it from someone. To prove
that I hadn't plagiarized it, he wanted me to recite the poem, by heart, in front of the
entire class. I did as he asked, got through it without stuttering, and from then on I
had to write more, and speak more. This had a tremendous effect on me, and my
confidence grew as I learned to express myself comfortably out loud.

“On the last day of school we had our final class outside on the lawn, and Professor
Crouch presented me with a gift--a copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance.
This was invaluable to me because it summed up what he had taught me--self-
reliance. His influence on me was so basic that it extended to all areas of my life. He
is the reason I became an actor.”

Tim Russert: My Mentor, My Teacher
“In the seventh grade at St. Bonaventure School in Buffalo, New York, Sister
Mary Lucille, a Sister of Mercy, was both impressed and yet concerned by--shall
we say--my excessive energy in class. She expressed that in her words, ‘We have
to channel that energy, Timothy,’ because I was prone to mischief. One day she
told me, ‘I'm going to start a school newspaper and you're going to be the editor.
This means that you have to give out assignments, you have to edit the copy, you
have to write your own articles, you have to go around and interview students,
teachers, and administrative people, and publish the paper. You have to distribute
it. You have to decide whether you're going to charge for it, or if you're going to
have a fundraiser to underwrite the cost.’ It became this extraordinary project that I
threw myself into and so did all my friends. It left us little time to get in trouble
because we were so devoted to the paper. Then she said, ‘If you don't keep up your
grades, we're not going to be able to do the second edition of the newspaper.’ That
made us all committed to studying harder.

“On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated. We did a special
edition of the paper and sent a copy to the new president, President Johnson; to Mrs.
Jacqueline Kennedy; and to Robert Kennedy, the attorney general. Some months
later we received personal responses from all of them, which changed our lives. Here
we were, only months ago with nothing and wondering whether or not school was
worth our while--whether school could be fun, whether school was meaningful--and
along came this young nun who created this entity called a school newspaper that