On March 26, the School of Kinesiology held its annual Mentorship Program Wrap-up event in the Liu Institute for Global Issues. Each year, the event formally wraps the year’s program, recognizes mentor and mentee contributions, and gives participants an opportunity to reconnect one final time before the program concludes.
This year, 24 attendees listened to key speakers Dr. Robert Boushel, School of Kinesiology Director and Professor, Dr. Blye Frank, Faculty of Education Dean and Professor, Jennifer Brulé, a fourth year KIN undergraduate student who participated in the program as a mentee, and Glen Mulcahy, UBC Alumni PHED ’91 who returned for his second term as a mentor, now the founder and CEO of Paradigm Sports.
In her speech, Jennifer spoke about her experience as an undergraduate student, and all the challenges this has entailed: balancing a full-time course workload, gaining work experience, and taking advantage of experiential learning opportunities such as the Mentorship program or Co-op to help her zero in on the career path she wanted.
“The support of this program has been incredible,” she said. “It’s not easy finding a job. That is why this mentorship program, as well as co-op and experiential learning are great. Employers often see education as a check mark and look to your experience for why you would be a good fit for their company. So get creative in your resume building and use your support networks around you.”
In his speech, Glen Mulcahy spoke about the importance of mentorship and how mentors helped shape his life as a high school student, which then led to his application to UBC to complete his BPE. Glen took the group through a brief reflection activity to help attendees identify what they remembered as three main characteristics of a coach or teacher who made a positive impact on them. Consistent with what he sees in most workshops he facilitates, approximately 85% of the characteristics were related to how those coaches or mentors made them feel, rather than what skills they contributed.
The School would like to congratulate the full list of Mentorship program participants this year, including:
Mentors
Alex Abundo (KINH ‘15); Joey Alexis (HEFI ’05); Kerri Blackburn (KINH ’15); Diogo Borges (KINH ‘12); Ana Boskovic (IDKN ’15); Abhi Cherukupalli (KINH ’15); Tyler Chong (IDKN ’15); Andrew Clements (MHK ’04); Jennifer Dowdeswell (LESM ’02); Silvia Hua (KINH ’09); Bianca Knop (LESM ’02); Alex Low (EXSC ’11); Olga Mavritsakis (IDKN ’16); Tasha McRae (HEFI ’02); Amara Miles (KINH ‘15); Nataliya Minenok (IDKN ’17); Shireen Mistry (KINH ’10); Glen Mulcahy (PHED ’91); Matthew Nelson (EXSC ’05); Sush Raj (PHED ‘95); Sarah Weller (EXSC ’06); Philip Yan (KINH ’16).
Mentees
Sabrina Gaspar; Gagandeep Jangle; Lilin Zhang; Stephanie Yu; Mahabhir Kandola; Faraz Damji; Victor Luk; Isiah McDonald; Michelle Yan; Janny Chan; Jennifer Brulé; Tom Kanwischer; Maggie Mei; Sing Lok Ng; Louisa Tsang; Sioban McCormick; Kate Rickaby; Sheila Okisa; Hannah Elizabeth Folkmann; Phillip Do; Kim Wang; Joanna Chiu.
Attendees at the Mentorship Program Wrap-up.