By Faith Jarrell
Student Life Editor
Washington College’s Black Student Union held a panel on Thursday, Sept. 21 in The Egg in Hodson Hall. The meeting was a kickoff event for the rising BSU mentorship program, created and led by upperclassmen to aid underclassmen.
The event started at 7 p.m. and lasted until 8 p.m. and featured six students, including BSU vice-president senior Nicole Chimezie, senior Sean Nkem, senior Alyssa Hawes, junior Miranda Parrish, senior Precieux Tshibangu, and junior Camiya Anderson. These students are the mentors in the program.
Chimezie was in charge of the both the event and for picking mentors as the moderator.
“The panel was a bit limited, because it was just people I know that have accomplished a lot and I know would be willing to talk and be willing to be mentors,” Chimezie said.
Each student was listed by one of their accomplishments on the posters for this panel. Nkem was listed as the founder of the Economics Club, Hawes as a peer mentor, Parrish as SGA President, Tshibangu as a Washington Scholar, and Anderson as the CLEOs club president.
The event had light refreshments and started with the panelists answering ice-breaker questions. These questions included “coffee or tea,” “hot or iced,” “texting or talking,” and more. After the ice-breakers, Chimezie went on to ask more hard-hitting questions, starting with why each panelist wanted to be a mentor.
“For a lot of freshmen, they’re coming to Washington College and they don’t necessarily have a friend group or they’re not on a sports team. It might be a little harder for them to interact with other people on campus,” Tshibangu said. “So I think that’s why mentorships are important because it helps them have someone they can talk to so they don’t have to be alone during college.”
The idea for a mentorship program first came to Chimezie last semester, and she started putting together the panel over the summer.
“For me, I got this idea because there’s a lack of underclassmen stepping up for leadership positions and a lack of awareness about internships and other opportunities that are happening on campus,” Chimezie said. “This mentorship program is kind of a way to get freshmen and sophomores to be paired up with juniors and seniors who might be where they’re trying to get or just have a lot of knowledge about this campus.”
The mentorship not only provides underclassmen with an opportunity to talk about campus life, but also careers and life after college, especially for seniors who will be graduating soon.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for anyone that is interested in the career field of life and for them to build opportunities and learn more about the industry [they’re interested in,]” Nkem said.
While the BSU mentorship program has not started yet, WC students, especially underclassmen, can look forward to having opportunities to get advice from these upperclassmen.
Photo by Faith Jarrell
Photo Caption: The panel consisted of (from left to right) Nicole Chimezie, Sean Nkem, Alyssa Hawes, Miranda Parrish, Precieux Tshibangu, and Camiya Anderson.