Responses to Programs & Events

From students:

"The mentoring experience has provided me with one of the most precious and rare commodities for so many college students – time away from class, homework, friends, and activities, set aside specifically for me to think about and discuss a tremendously important issue that often gets ignored."

"Through talking with [my mentor], I’ve come to know myself better.  And because of this, I am able to better understand my vocation…I am better prepared to face my future because I have taken a good, long look at my past and present."

"The relationship we [mentee and mentor] share together is unique; I don’t believe that I would have shared topics we’ve covered with my college friends.  I feel I am more at peace with others and myself through this experience.  I finally found God in my college life…" 

"[My mentor] has been my professor, my friend, my therapist, my guide, and occasionally she’s been my mother when I needed one and my own was too far away.  And sometimes she’s been the voice of God when I would not listen from any other direction.  As much as I think I am well on my way to being an adult, I am still a child, still stuck in the liminality of college, and I still need the reassurance of someone older and wiser, who is willing to listen and be honest and not condemn.  This program was one of the biggest lifesavers to me this year…"

"For me, Vocational Mentoring has opened doors to discovering ways that God moves through each person, and provided a means by which I can experience God in ways authentic to myself.  My mentor has [given] the support and encouragement to express how God works through me to others, deeply strengthening my sense of community at Hanover."

"I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program.  It is a meaningful time to discuss important events and decisions that are relevant to my daily life now and my future.  With all the chaotic schedules and busy days that just fly by, it provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon where I am personally in many areas of my life: spiritually, academically, socially, etc.  To be able to engage in these types of thoughtful discussions in a safe, welcoming environment is a blessing. "

Margaret Krantz (Career Center) has received training in spiritual direction at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, and put it to use in her campus-wide mentoring, with a small number of people who are referred or self-refer to her.  In a Sunday night contemplative prayer group she held with seven students during the 2003-2004 academic year - one student from that group wrote:

"It is very comforting to have a place where I can be completely open to God in a very vulnerable sense with a group of people supporting one another.  I feel a greater sense that God is embodied in me, and works through me best when I am open to that spirit.  I have noticed that I am more attentive to others, and find more solace and joy in silence than I ever have before.  I feel I overall have a more calm, quiet, and open spirit.  I find myself examining my attitude more often."

This student is currently on her way to seminary

From Mentors

"I can see changes in [my mentee], over the two years.  There is greater depth of perspective and a growing ability to integrate the various aspects of his life.  I see a sharpening sense of his own gifts and a sense of call about how he might use them.  It is also my sense that some of what he has learned will only be apparent on down the road a bit – but then, life is always like that.  It’s been an honor to have been part of [my mentee’s] journey these past two years."

"When I agreed to participate in the mentoring program, I assumed that this would be an opportunity for me to share with students some of my collective wisdom.  Little did I realize (which probably reflects on my wisdom) how much of an impact these conversations with students would have on me.  These meetings over the past three years have challenged me to reflect on my own life, vocation and relationship with the Divine.  In a sentence, the campus mentoring program creates a reciprocal relationship between the mentor and mentee." 

"In order to be an effective vocational mentor/spiritual director, I think it is essential that I have good grounding in my own spirituality, to be prayerful and responsive to God in my own life.  So, if there were a time I might have been tempted to be lazy about my faith, this responsibility has kept me on track as a discipline.  I find that the students’ lives often parallel my own in interesting ways, so I grow a great deal from listening to them and their issues.  As I’ve said before, I find it an amazing privilege to be able to walk with someone on her spiritual journey.  Most of all, though, I believe that, in simply seeking the action of God in students’ lives, I encounter or experience God myself."

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