The Importance of a Great Mentor and/or Teacher

20 years.

7000 books.

3 dissertation programs.

One teacher – John Jameson. This incredible work ethic has not diminished later in his teaching career either.

Jameson and his two sisters (Joni and Kim) have set the standard for public education at Archer High School. Their revolutionary AP program teaches ordinary kids that their academic powers can be exercised beyond their mental limit. This program allows kids like me to take well over 20 AP exams and excel.

No chance.

This would be my response to 2-5 hours of homework a night just a month before I accepted the challenge. Mrs. Heglund brushed off the course load in our initial class-schedule meeting. I’m glad she did. Since that day a week before Freshman year, my knowledge and motivation have exponentially increased. In fact, the work ethic of my teachers was a key contributor to the inspiration of this website.

Just to put into perspective what separates the core AP teachers at Archer High School from regular teachers, conduct a comparative analysis on how long it takes each subset of teachers to grade. Mrs. Jameson hands back detailed, graded essays the next day. Mr. Jameson grades everything in the “in-folder” every day. Mrs. Heglund takes any free second as an opportunity to give quality feedback to a student on an assignment.

Contrast this with that of other teachers, who takes a little over a week to grade short written assignments or easily-graded multiple choice assessments.

This is all connected to their desire to “Teach kids how to develop their own powers towards something they’re interested in by being in our own discipline.” (Gwinnett Daily Post). Everything is geared towards learning, not towards an arbitrary grade. They truly want the best for their students.

Everyone needs some form of a mentor like this in their life to direct and motivate them. Someone who presents opportunities. Someone who you would aspire to be. Someone who has honestly earned respect.

These three teachers have set me up to go to nearly any university, but more importantly, they have helped me develop my character. Without extensive homework (not busy work), my time would be spent more on entertainment, boredom, and procrastination. But, their belief in a crazy work ethic, as they constantly exemplify, is contagious and their standard for their students. All of their subjects are prepared to academically contribute.

Your mentor and/or teacher should be where you want to be in life. They should have the experience you desire. The knowledge you crave. The connections you dream of. Your mentor should be THE guide to your life of choice.

How do I find the right mentor for me?

The concept is simple, but may be difficult in practice: find the people who do what you want to do. However, sometimes these people are too high-profile to even get ahold of. For example, I want to eventually colonize Mars, but it’d be impossible to even discuss with Elon Musk.

If you’e in a similar scenario, go down a level from where you want to be. In my case, this would be astrophysicists. Here you may not find the especially pertinent figures, however, they will have extensive knowledge in their field that they can relay upon you. Their experiences with organizing a team and other leadership endeavors may be deefficient.

This is where you bring in secondary mentors. They may not be in the field you are pursuing. They may not have great knowledge. This is all acceptable for such a role.

This role is for someone who has ample leadership experience. It doesn’t matter if they led an art studio and you’re a computer science major. The tactics used to lead a large group of people are nearly universal and invaluable to the extent that a secondary mentor is almost required for leadership prosperity (barring countless hours of reading and observation).

Now if these exceptions do not apply to you, eagerly type away, email hundreds of potential candidates asking for a simple video chat to evaluate if your characters match. You can find these emails through professional websites. Alternatively, social media provides a large-scale platform for discovering willing mentors. LinkedIn, a social media platform designated for business and information sharing, will provide the best opportunities to get in contact with accomplished people of your choice.

There is a mentor out there willing to guide you through the trials and tribulations that life throws at you. However, you must be willing to be proactive in finding them to reap the benefits.

Mentors are essentially more inclusive and less demanding internships. They allow for more in-depth questions and lay-out straight-forward paths to accomplishment. Ultimately, mentors are a useful tool to reach one’s potential that shouldn’t be passed up on because of the no-cost, high-reward nature of mentorship.