Last Saturday, the Mentorship Society started the year with its annual kick off event. It was refreshing to see students interacting and laughing in person after such complex years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event began in the Athletic Center where each Mentee and Mentor received a T-shirt as they anxiously awaited to meet their fellow IE students.
Many were ecstatic to finally meet their Mentors/Mentees in person, since they had been texting and getting to know each other over the summer. In an interview with Shannon Clancy, a Mentor she says, “This event was such a fun way to meet my Mentees for the first time! We have been texting each other since being matched in the summer, so to finally be able to meet in person was great. This event did a great job in showing the new first years just how friendly the IE community is. As we all come from different countries and most of us are far from home. It creates a special bond between students, and I think this year’s Mentees were able to see that in just these past few hours.” After finally meeting one another, they were put into teams with other Mentees and played games that required them to complete goofy tasks such as making a human pyramid. The students enjoyed the ice breakers, met new people, and got to know a bit more of the campus.
Since most IE students are international, this event allowed freshers to meet their classmates, and upperclassmen to make their first day of school a little less intimidating. After playing games with their fellow classmates, the event ended with pizza and some great conversations. Everyone met outside for lunch and met and discussed with many more students. At this time many of the Mentees asked questions to their Mentors regarding their professors, the courses, syllabi, and IE’s famous Asynchronous sessions. Over pizza, Mentees were able to ask all sorts of questions on their minds, from what are the best clubs at IE, to how to get student metro cards.
This event not only provided Freshers the opportunity to meet other fellow freshers that don’t share the same Mentor, but even the Mentors were able to meet other Mentors that they would not likely have met because of being in different degrees.
The kick off event was an overall success and gave freshers a large sense of security, student pride, and welcomed the students into IE’s community.
