Pilot Project Brings Students and Business Mentors Together

Part of the charge from our accrediting agency – The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges or SACSCOC – is to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

A QEP is, by SACSCOC’s definition, “a five-year action plan developed by the college community to improve an aspect of student learning and/or the environment for student success.”

At NVC, the  QEP centers on improving information literacy skills for students. SACSCOC also requires that the college “Involve stakeholders in the development and implementation of the QEP.”

As one way of involving stakeholders in the NVC plan, the QEP Steering Team presented the plan to the NVC Business Council. Business Council members expressed a strong desire to help in building students’ information literacy skills and thus, from this initial discussion, the mentorship program was developed. Organizers of the program are Denise Tolan, NVC faculty member and QEP chair, and Lynne T. Dean, director of Institutional Advancement.

Beginning this January, five business leaders from the NVC Business Council were paired with five SDEV/EDUC instructors from NVC. The primary goal of this partnership was to foster a successful mentoring relationship between our students and business leaders. Out of the many program goals, one objective was to have the Business Council mentors provide learning experiences that would enhance and expand a student’s leadership skills.

At a luncheon held April 17, mentors and classroom instructors met to report on the highs and lows of the program thus far. All of the instructor/mentor pairs reported that the relationships with the students had been worthwhile and helpful. Organizers learned from this pilot program about the importance of building a more structured framework for the next group of mentees/mentors. While most of the mentors have visited their mentees’ classrooms in person, one of the classes is an online class where a video introduction by the mentor was made available for students.

Rosantina Aranda, vice president and business banker with Frost Bank, and her NVC instructor/partner Jenny Martin, shared how they managed helping students develop more in-depth networking skills and learn how to participate in mock interviews for a job. 

As part of the April event, each participant was presented with a ceramic planter created by NVC Artist Paul Northway. Inside each planter was a plant, symbolizing the beginning of the mentorship program.