November 2021

The Alumni Mentoring Program had its Student Interest Meeting for its 2021-22 Program Year in the library on Monday, November 22. It was the first large in-person meeting of the program since February 2020.

“We’re heading into the tail end of the student (mentee) recruiting season for this program year,” said Program Founder, YanJie Hou ’06. “I have been incredibly impressed by this year’s team of Student Leaders who have poured an incredible amount of work and creativity into building even more awareness for the Program within the school.”  You can check out some of their work on the Mentoring Program’s Instagram page (IG: @stuymentoring).

For the 2020-2021 School Year, the Mentoring Program had a record-breaking year with more than 300 participants (195 student mentees and 115 alumni mentors). “Transitioning to an entirely virtual program removed the capacity constraints we had in previous years,” said YanJie. “For the 2021-2022 School Year, we are shifting to a hybrid structure. Most of the smaller group work as well as one-on-one’s between mentors and mentees will still be over Zoom. But we might do some of our larger workshops at Stuyvesant since we have found those meetings to be much more engaging for students when they are conducted in person.”

To celebrate the start of another great year of mentoring, we have asked some past mentees to share the impact the Alumni Mentoring Program has made in their lives.

The Alumni Mentoring Program was an incredible experience that has helped me time and time again while hugely expanding my worldview. The chance to hear from and talk to professionals from a huge variety of backgrounds was invaluable and fascinating. My mentor has aided me even more, however, giving me advice that has allowed me to successfully overcome many tough decisions and situations.

In my sophomore year, I joined the Alumni Mentoring Program because I had time to spare and wanted to get closer to a professional related to a career path I was interested in. However, not only was I able to meet a mentor that guided me in both my career and life, but I met many other inspirational alumni that were all extremely helpful and willing to talk to me. It was extremely rewarding at every meeting, from 1-on-1 sessions with my mentor to group workshops.

I learned valuable life and professional skills, including writing up a great resume and cover letter, and I’ve become much more comfortable conversing with adults, writing emails, and being interviewed. The program really pulled me out of my high school shell and has allowed me to grow as an aspiring professional and young adult. And to think that this program gives resources exclusive to our school’s students makes it all the more desirable of an experience. I strongly recommend students to make the most of the Alumni Mentoring Program.

In my freshman year, I joined the Alumni Mentoring Program [for] extracurricular experience. During my ventures in it, I learned a lot about adult life and how to navigate through it. Some examples of activities that we did would include writing up resumes, interviewing, doing taxes, and even how to network. Not only that, but it was really cool to meet all of these experienced [alumni] and hear their stories. I am extremely grateful for all the opportunities that interacting and conversing with working adults has given me.

When I joined the Alumni Mentoring Program last year it…I thought that the majority of it would be spent on talking about college and just my personal essay, when in fact we focused on more than just that. When I was paired with my mentor, it was through a similar interest and to be able to get advice from someone who [is doing] what I want to do was extremely insightful and helped me more definitively make my choices on what I want to do. He answered all my questions and addressed all my worries as well as going beyond that and giving me advice that I did not even realize I knew. Beyond the scope of college, I learned practical skills that I would need in a real world setting such as interview etiquette and bettering my resume. It is through this program that I can more confidently go to college and into the real world.

If you believe in the value and mission of the Alumni Mentoring Program, please donate to the Alumni Association’s Stuy Fund! Your support allows us to provide the Mentoring Program to hundreds of students every year.

You can read our other features on Mentoring here.