By Emily Bresette

STA President Nan Bone is implementing a new ementoring program, in which upperclassmen will be matched to an STA alumna or woman in the STA community, whose profession matches a student’s interest. According to Bone, students will be matched with professionals based on interviews and previously taken interest inventories.

According to principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick, the main idea of the program would be to help students build a network of people who could help the students before and after college.

“This is a great opportunity for young women to connect with professionals who can help them out down the road,” McCormick said. “It’s building that network of professionals who can help you out in college and later on in life.”

The ementoring program was recently presented to the school board in the school’s four year strategic plan. According to McCormick, the board loved the idea of the ementoring program and approved the plan. Bone said that although everyone is excited to have the ementoring program in place, it may be 2013 before the program is available to students.

“I think we really need a person in charge of [the ementoring program],” Bone said. “[Running the program] is such a big task. We have one candidate in mind, but she may not be available to join us until 2013.”

Besides having a staff member to run the ementoring program, McCormick said all the logistics still need to be put into place.

“We really just need to get all the underpaintings in place,” McCormick said. “It’s the expectations we have, outlining the program, just making everything clear.”

Senior Kelsey Ceriotti, who plans on studying biology in college believes the ementoring program would be a benefit to her.

“I would [be interested in the ementoring program] because I can talk to the STA grad about her experiences and what she did and didn’t like about biology,” Ceriotti said. “I can ask her what specific things she studied that will help me figure out what I want to do after college.”

All the ementors would either be STA alumna or a woman connected to the STA community. Bone believes this is one of the best aspects of the ementoring program because it can help students out before and after college.

“Your ementor could write you a letter of recommendation and really help you get a job,” Bone said. “By this point, you might have worked with your ementor since your junior year and [the ementor] would really know all your strengths.”

According to Ceriotti, she likes this aspect of the program and believes it will help her.

“[My ementor would] know my background because she went to an all-girls school,” Ceriotti said. “She’s taken the same rigorous classes and that could help me because she can show me how she used her high school experience to help her in college.”

The ementoring program would also be entirely online. According to Bone, students can skype, email or use the new audio and video classrooms in the Windmoor Center to get in touch with their ementor. While Bone said that students could eventually meet their ementor in person, she believes that STA students and their mentors are very busy. Having the program run entirely online will make it easier for those participating.

According to Bone, the way the program is set up now, students and their ementors will meet once a quarter or four times a year. Ceriotti believes the meetings should be more frequent.

“I think I would talk to [my ementor] at least once every couple weeks just to make sure that I’m on the right track and just to see if she has any suggestions to help me be successful,” Ceriotti said. “I do not think four times a year is enough.”

Bone got the idea for an ementoring program from one of her previous jobs at a public school in Iowa. Bone started a program for at-risk youth to be mentored by professionals in the business field. The program was called Mentors Affecting Youth, or MAY. The program is now in its tenth year and Bone calls this one of her proudest accomplishments yet. Bone also started the Connecting the Stars program. In this program, Bone and alumna director Kathleen Barry travel across the United States to meet with other alumna and inform them about changes happening at STA. This program also allows alumna to get to know each other better and build relationships, one of the main focuses of the ementoring program.

While the program may not take off until 2013, McCormick believes it will be successful.

“I think this a great program and new addition to the school,” McCormick said. “[The ementoring program] is a great new learning opportunity that allows students to see beyond the four walls of the classroom and really understand that learning does not take place in just the classroom.”