MENTORSHIP EXPERIENCE
Cyber Transfer Mentors Spring 2020
Patricia Francisco (Myself), Priyanka Patel, and Jeet Patel
Last January 2020, ODU’s Transfer Center recently established a Cyber Transfer Mentor Program to help not just current ODU Cybersecurity major students but also transfer students from different community colleges. Luckily, I was chosen as one of the Cyber Transfer Student Mentors.
My duty as a Cyber Transfer Student Mentor is, I offer one-on-one support to students interested in the major, discuss cyber certifications, transfer pathways, cyber student clubs, and internship opportunities assisting students with transition and degree completion.
Being a Cyber Transfer Student Mentor, I worked 6-8 hours a week in the Transfer Center where I provided support and encouragement and connect my fellow students to different campus resources. Since this program is fairly new, in the beginning, I was supervised by the Assistant Director of Transfer Initiatives specifically Miss Tania Alvarez. Miss Tania definitely helped me to get situated in my role and be comfortable to help my fellow Cybersecurity students. In the beginning, we were asked to participate in a peer mentoring training program where we discussed the qualities of a good mentor, brush up our active listening skills, establishing rapport and building the mentor-mentee relationship. We also learned how goal setting works and how to effectively plan time management.
Since I am a transfer student from Tidewater Community College, I was assigned to be the Cyber Transfer Mentor for TCC. This means that per semester, I participate in transfer orientations to different TCC campus. In this orientation, we present the ODU’s Cybersecurity Program and we assist TCC students if they have any inquiries about how the process of transferring works and we also help them connect to On-Campus resources that ODU offers.
We also provide outreach to cybersecurity transfer students to ease the transition, through activities such as hosting a social event each semester. The last two semesters that I am a Cyber Transfer Mentor, we conducted two Cybersecurity Workshops. In this workshop, me and my fellow Cyber Transfer Mentors presented to current ODU Cybersecurity students and transfer students the different Cybersecurity careers, different certifications we need to take in our field, internship opportunities, on-campus resources, and many more!
My whole mentorship experience helped me to become a better student since it increased my social and academic confidence. It also helped me to become more empowered to make important decisions which develops my analytical and critical thinking skills. It also developed my communication skills since I have to attend to different student’s inquiries all the time. Most importantly, through this mentorship, I was able to gain new friendship and establish connections that can help me with my career.