Mentee

The medical definition of CPR:

Brother 2 Brothers Logo An emergency procedure in which the heart and lungs are revived by manually compressing the chest overlying the heart and forcing air into the lungs. In other words, cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Brother 2 Brothers' definition of CPR:

An emergency response in which a student's attitude and aspirations are rehabilitated through the implementation of a structured support system that encourages success in all aspects of life and academics. In our usage, CPR stands for communicate, prepare and recover, and it embodies the process in which mentors help to resuscitate students in need.

Communicate: Mentors will actively monitor mentees' GPAs. In the event that a mentee's GPA falls below 2.5, they will proactively reach out with tools and resources to help and, perhaps most importantly, engage the mentee in conservation about what's going on.

Prepare: Mentees will be required to attend tutoring based on their academic needs twice weekly, helping to prevent recurring issues.

Recover: Mentors will help students celebrate their hard work and find ways to be even more successful in the future.

When others might use terms like academic probation, Brother 2 Brothers prefers to approach students earning poor grades with a more positive spin. Instead of focusing on the consequences through traditional terminology like probation, Brother 2 Brothers focuses on CPR to revive students when they feel like the world is falling in on them by providing the support, structure and resources they need to get back on track.

Establishing and Maintaining Boundaries

Boundaries are important in every relationship, and especially so in a mentoring relationship where your mentee will depend on you to model the behaviors he needs to adopt. By establishing consistent boundaries early in your conversations with your mentee and applying them consistently throughout your interactions, you provide him with a head start on achieving the personal growth he seeks, as well as protecting yourself from unforeseen outcomes and challenging your expectations.

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Locker Room Series

The locker room has always been a safe haven for young men where candid conservations on meaningful topics can be discussed in confidence. Inspired by that kind of real-talk environment, Brother 2 Brothers has adopted the locker room model to offer a safe space for male students to talk about the issues important to them - from current events to personal finances.

Throughout the Locker Room Series, Brother 2 Brothers aims to inspire mentees by following tried-and-true principles from Valencia's Peace and Justice Institute:

  • Place collaborative relationship building as central to the work
  • Encourage a reflective practice to support meaning and purpose (mindfulness practice, emotional intelligence)
  • Address conflict as a source and opportunity for growth and transformation
  • Use the tools of dialogue and conversation (introduces the College's Principles for How We Treat Each Other)
  • Support an inclusive community in which all voices are heard and valued
  • Engage in the exploration of the "other" in acknowledgment of our inherent interdependence
  • Recognize that there can be no sustaining peace without justice for all

Mentee Card

Mentees will be given cards to share with their professors on the first day of class. These cards will inform teachers of the Brother 2 Brothers program and the commitments our mentees will make as a condition of their participation, in order to help hold them accountable for their behavior and their performance.


Mentor/Mentee Relationships

Finding common ground with your mentee and establishing trust in both directions.

Brother 2 Brothers pin

Stage 1

When you are first matched with your mentee, there will naturally be a feeling-out period wherein you each learn to effectively communicate with the other. As first impressions are made and the positive aspects of the relationship are reinforced through preliminary conversations, a bonding process will begin. Finding common ground with your mentee and establishing trust in both directions will benefit the prescribed mentoring process that will begin in earnest in Stage 2.

Stage 2

As you begin the prescribed mentoring process through scheduled sessions and collaboration with the entire Brother 2 Brothers family, you and your mentee will begin to challenge and test each other with the goal of allowing the mentee to consider his actions and attitudes more deeply. This may involve rethinking his first impressions of you, and vice versa, and in so doing may awaken difficult emotions. This should be embraced as a transformative process for both of you and leveraged as a step toward becoming more complete individuals.

Stage 3

As you and your mentee achieve a comfort with the prescribed mentoring process, you will begin to transition into a phase of natural, or "real" mentoring. Your relationship will move to a more equal footing from the more prescriptive dynamic you had established previously, and a bond between you will develop as trust flourishes.

Stage 4

As your mentee prepares to graduate or transfer, your role as a mentor will be to help prepare him for the end of your mentoring relationship, as well as the challenges of the next phase of his life. This may lead to a deeper relationship between you, as the two of you will interact as peers regarding the mentee's future.