InSPIRE

Mentorship program expands to reach more students.

When the Larry Myny Mentorship program launched seven years ago, it gave students in their final year of study an opportunity to connect with industry professionals through a formal matching system—a pillar of support for students who were preparing to launch their careers.

Last year, the program expanded with wider support to reach all students who want to participate in mentoring, whether they are in first or final year or somewhere in between. The newly named InSPIRE (Innovative Signature Peer and Industry Related Experience) Mentoring program offers three main pillars of support: Larry Myny Industry Mentorship, Peer-to-Peer Mentorship and a Build Your Own Experience (BYOE) option. Students can be involved in all three pillars, says Ashley Nash, a Career Services consultant and member of the InSPIRE team, since each serves a different purpose.

It gave me such a boost of confidence.

Luisa Ibarra has been involved in both sides of InSPIRE, as a peer-to-peer mentor to new students and as a mentee in the Larry Myny program. She chose to mentor two international students, she says, because she felt her lived experience as a new Canadian gave her a good understanding of their situation. When they were preparing for their co-op work terms, for example, she was able to share information with them about networking, doing information interviews and accessing resources that were available to them through Fanshawe’s Employment and Student Entrepreneurial Services.

Last year she had her own mentor, and being in her final year she was focused on job search, and preparing for job interviews. “My mentor was amazing!” she says. “She reviewed my resume and asked me about transferable skills that I brought from my work in Colombia—I hadn’t really thought about that. It gave me such a boost of confidence!”

Every student should have the ability to connect with mentors, but not every student is looking for a structured mentoring experience,” Ashley says. “Now students can build their mentorship network throughout their time here, not just in their final year.

The ability to be involved in different ways has also resulted in more interest from a variety of industry professionals, says Ashley. “We now have mentors reaching out from industries that we have not had before, from health and fitness to sciences.”