4. ■ Grand Valley State University is located in Allendale, Michigan
■ In 2016 we had 4,816 new first-year students
■ The honors college currently has 493 first-year students
enrolled
■ 84% of first-year students live on campus
■ 92.2% of students enrolled currently are from Michigan
■ 7.8% of students enrolled currently are from out of state
6. ■ Who are we?
■ What do we do?
■ Why does the mentor program help?
7. Who are we?
■ We are the GVSU Honors Mentor Program
■ Comprised of students who have gone through the
mentor program as first-year students
■ Upperclassmen who care about our incoming first-year
students
8. What is the GVSU Honors Mentor
Program?
■ This program is designed to help transition incoming
honors students into college life
– We are specific for the honors college due to the tight
knit community and unique curriculum that begins the
first year
9. Why do we need this program?
■ What common problems do students face during their
first few weeks on campus?
– What do you think?
– What did you experience?
10. Why do we need this program?
■ Show incoming students how many resources are
available to them
– How many students actually use these resources?
■ What is the best way to ensure they retain this
information and know there are resolutions out there for
problems they may be facing?
11. How Does This Program and Honors
Help Students?
- Honors students have a higher graduation rate going
through the honors curriculum and mentor program
than honors eligible students who choose not to apply
to the honors college.
13. Mentor Council
■ 14 hand-selected mentors
■ All upperclassmen
■ Have each been a mentor for at least one year
■ Responsible for 5-6 mentors and own mentees
14. Questions for Prospective Mentor
Council Members
■ How many times have you been a mentor?
■ What sets you apart from other mentors? For example, what do you
think made you an exceptionally good mentor?
■ What improvements would you like to see in the mentor program?
■ What are your other commitments (clubs, sports, activities, work, etc.)
and the time frame of those?
■ Describe your previous leadership experiences. This does not have to
have been in an official position. How are you a leader in class or in your
job or in your day to day life?
17. Training
1. Your mentee comes to you and tells you they’re thinking about leaving
the honors college. They say the classes are too hard and Niemeyer is too
quiet for them. They ask you how they are supposed to go about quitting
the honors program. How do you respond?
2. You’re at a party off campus where there is drinking going on, and maybe
you are drinking yourself. All of a sudden, one of your mentees comes in
and walks up to you. How do you handle the situation?
3. Your mentee brings up a situation that you are uncomfortable with or do
not know how to handle. How do you help them?
18. Matching Process - Mentor Profile
■ Name
■ Gender
■ Year
■ Residence
■ Origin
■ Major/Minor
■ Extracurricular Activities
■ Interests
20. Overnight Orientations
■ The Schedule
– Discussions
– Then the “SPLIT”
■ Parents
– Parent Panel
■ Students
– Play Trainwreck, Body-Body, take a night tour, and bond with one
another and the mentors that are present
■ Registration Occurs the next day
32. ■ Why do we need this program?
– Not only does it help our first year students, but our upperclassmen as well.
■ We see a common theme in our mentors
– Leadership
– Honesty
– Integrity
– Dependability
■ This program is a success and shows how our students care about
their peers
