International E-mentoring Programme
Case Studies:
The names of the children and e-mentors have been changed but the stories are real and their experiences are very touching.
Stacy
Stacy is young girl of 10 years of age and attends a school in North Warwickshire area. The school has tried many initiatives to get Stacy to come out of her shell a little and show the world how great she really is.
Stacy was always very quiet and didn't interact very well with her class mates and received very little support outside of the school environment. It was very obvious that there was lots of potential bursting to get out but unless we motivated her and built up her low self-esteem we wouldn’t achieve anything. Our goal was to get Stacy talking to her class mates and to give her boost.
We decided to try e-mentoring and explained to her in detail that her mentor was far away and she could talk to him about anything that she was interested in. The conversations started with small one line sentences and this developed into conversations about everything from horses to schoolwork.
After 7 weeks of being on the e-mentoring programme Stacy stood in front of the class and presented to them. Stacy is a very happy little girl and all she needed was to be told her work was good and she could achieve her personal goals. Her mentor is an employee at a large company and has decided to continue mentoring Stacy for next several academic years and beyond if she needs the help.
We asked Stacy why having an e-mentor had worked for her and she was very honest and it all makes sense to us now.
Stacy said, “I like having an e-mentor because I can say whatever I like and even if they do laugh at me, I can’t see them and hear them”.
Stacy just wanted someone to talk to about life and schoolwork who didn’t know her and who didn’t have an opinion about her. But most important of all Stacy needed someone to listen.
Our Comments:
This is a great case study for all those who believe an email once a week will not make a difference. Sometimes in our lives we just need to have a conversation with someone who will encourage us and tell us that we are great and the work we are doing is excellent.
I would say the e-mentor is a credit to himself. Answering an email once a week does make a difference and it is more than just a donation of time. The mentor has learnt a lot from Stacy and isn’t afraid to talk about it. He said the one thing that keeps him focused on her support is the fact that she won’t give in and she won’t stop trying.
E-mentoring works – Stacy and her e-mentor are proof of it.
Gursharan
Gursharan is a girl of 16 years of age and attends a school in the West Midlands area.
Gursharan tries very hard at school and has the potential to be a superb student. We were asked to link Gursharan with a business mentor who would give her a better understanding of work life and how different it is to school life.
The e-mentor in this case study came from Siemens and worked in the technical department running whole networks and strategy management.
Our goal was to give Gursharan an insight into the possible employment area she was considering in the future. She was also unsure about university and whether she should go or not.
The staff member from Siemens answered his email every week generally from home but was able along with the parents of Gursharan to convince her that going to university was a the right thing to do.
None of Gursharans brothers had gone to university and so there was a real stigma to her going, after all, her brothers had gained employment without it so why should she go.
During this time Gursharan was also sitting exams and received lots of support and revision advice from her mentor.
We are pleased to say Gursharan did extremely well with her exams and is now looking forward to starting university in September. The school is over the moon with her progress and feel the support from the e-mentor definitely tipped the balance.
Gursharans parents believe that without her being able to talk to someone all be it via the Internet from industry she would have probably left school and gone into employment and never realised her true potential.
Our Comments:
Gursharan was in all too typical situation. Lot’s of young people need encouragement no matter how old or from whatever background they come from.
There are many students that could go to university but because of family and outside pressures they don’t. We need professionals like the mentor she had to encourage young adults like Gursharan to look at all the options and make an informed decision.
The staff member is continuing to be Gursharans mentor and will be on call via her e-mentoring portal whenever she needs him through university.
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