By ABBY SHEGELMAN For The News-Letter
The Student Government Association (SGA) held its weekly meeting in Charles Commons on Tuesday. The meeting mainly addressed the possibility of creating a mentor program to help non-Greek, non-athlete freshmen integrate into the Hopkins community.
Junior Class Senator Liam Haviv proposed the idea of student mentors for incoming freshman. After speaking to people currently in Greek Life, Haviv concluded that freshmen who decide not to be involved in Greek Life or varsity sports can feel left out. To remedy this, he proposed assigning every freshman a sophomore mentor that he or she would be able to turn to for help.
“We don’t want people to feel lost,” he said.
SGA Executive Vice President Charlie Green said that a mentor program might not gain traction among students.
“I think what Liam proposed is a great way for non-affiliated freshmen and sophomores to find an older student who can give them advice and guide them through Hopkins,” Green wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Although I think it would be hard logistically for this idea to work... I think if they were able to find the venue for these meetings to occur it could be great.”
Freshman Class Senator Mi Tu shared a similar sentiment in an email to The News-Letter.
“The mentor program is barely feasible. There will be more freshmen who want a mentor than the upperclassmen who will be willing to have mentees,” she wrote. “It is also a complex program that needs systematic supervisions, which means that some organizations need to be responsible to make sure that a mentor does not suddenly drop his or her mentee.”
Some senators mentioned that during the recent International Student Forum, students expressed their wishes for a student mentor. Tu further stated that while it might be logistically difficult to accomplish, a mentor program would provide a bridge between Hopkins classes.
“It’s inevitable most of the freshmen will feel a little bit lost when they first enter college,” Tu wrote. “This program could give freshmen a sense of belonging in a new college environment by establishing a long-term relationship between them and the mentors.”
Freshman Class President Noh Mehbratu wrote in an email to The News-Letter that he supports a mentor program.
“The idea of having a mentor is a great one. My [First Year Mentor] FYM group was pretty awesome and I saw my mentor at social gatherings and he is now a good friend of mine,” Mehbratu wrote. “I would have liked a one-on-one mentor and I think that would have fostered an even stronger friendship.”
