Cal Poly Alumni - CENG Mentoring

Cal Poly Alumni Relations and the CENG Student Council held the first ever Mustang Mentoring Day-- connecting engineering students with Alumni and Friends who are currently working in the field.

Watch a video including interviews with alumni and students

Event Recap:

Thank You to everyone who participated in this wonderful event! We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who attended. Here's what some participants had to say, along with photos from the event:

"I really enjoyed this event and had hoped there would be such an alumni event. There are alot of lessons learned to be shared. Being a CP alumni, I feel I have something instantly in common with the students. The students today demonstrated their enthusiasm and passion to succeed."

"Students are courteous and eager to learn. I enjoy helping them and share my experience."

"Let's do this again! Thank you!"

"I think this is a great event. As a graduate, I had similar reservations about my first job, so it was nice to hear their concerns and ask them questions that hopefully get them thinking about what they want."

"Great format, great event! I think I learned as much as the students."

"I am impressed by how many have goals--any goals. I sure didn't know my plans. Contrary to today, I did not have a strong feeling on alumni support like these students will get. I envy them."

"Overall, I had a blast! Thanks!!"

Morning Ice-Breaker:
The goal of the icebreaker was to provide a fun and interactive activity so participants could get to know each other better. We split up Mentors and Mentees into teams of seven, and gave them each a stack of index cards and just a few paperclips. The teams were instructed to build a structure given the items provided, in just fifteen minutes. Prizes were awarded to the team with the tallest structure and the most creative construction.



Speed Mentoring:
A one hour speed-mentoring session provided students and mentors with the opportunity to converse with each other in a fast-paced, high-energy activity. Students circled around mentors and discussed the prompted question for five minutes, then scored their interaction, and moved to the next mentor. The scores were used later to match up students with mentors for individual one on one mentoring sessions in the afternoon.



One on One Sessions:
After lunch, Mentors and Mentees were paired up for two individual mentoring sessions. As the culminating activity for the day, our hope was to have prepared both Mentors and Mentees well enough to engage in a meaningful mentoring experience. Overall, the wealth of experience and knowledge exchanged during this session exceeded expectations.



Thank You to all the Participants!