At the end of May 2022, the Student to Stemette (STS) programme in partnership with Nestle reached the midway point. Over the past two months, 7 pairs of mentors and mentees met fortnightly for their mentorship.
The programme offered to young women and non-binary people, facilitated the mentoring through ‘meet guides’ offering guidance on structuring their sessions.
What do mentees think?
Mentees rated their experience 8 out of 10 and their mentorship pairings 8.5 out of 10.
At the start of the mentorship, the mentees set out goals they wanted to achieve with support from their mentor. Goals included:
- Developing interview skills
- Building their CV and personal statement
- Support on decision-making towards the future
- Expanding their networks
- Improving confidence
- Exposure to career paths in STEM
So far, mentees have achieved 36% of their goals.
“I want to further my understanding and knowledge of STEM and the possible careers I could go into. I also want to learn about what it takes to have a STEM career, particularly in engineering.” – STS Mentee
What do mentors think?
Mentors rated their experience so far 9 out of 10.
They have been working with their mentees on options for the future, looking for work placements and university courses, and thinking about what motivates their mentees.
An unexpected benefit mentioned by one mentor was that it pushed them to try new things.
“I have developed listening skills and patience. Initially, [My mentee] was quite reserved and quiet in the calls but it has been amazing to get to know her better. I have now discovered that she is a police cadet. [My mentee] has a lot of fantastic skills to demonstrate through extra curricular activities including the engineering website she has set up containing articles she has written relating to different engineering topics.” – STS Mentor
