According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.”
A mentor can be many things to a person, but above all, they have the opportunity to help someone identify and reach their goals. According to Michelle Vondenkamp (CsC 89), serving as a mentor can be just as rewarding as being the mentee. Michelle joined the Alumni/Student Mentor Program last year and was matched with student Danni Lueder, a senior in applied computational mathematics.
“It was very meaningful for me to hear [Danni’s] perspectives as a young adult entering the workforce, gain a better understanding of life on campus now, and think more about how I can help the school community that was a foundation for the life and career I’m so grateful for.”
The mentor program, run by the Center for Alumni Relations & Advancement (CARA), matches students and alumni based on career interests and other criteria. The time commitment is minimal, and support materials are included to help the pair get started. Danni and Michelle met in person once, but a majority of their meetings have taken place virtually.
“I've learned a lot from [Michelle], but I think most important was her experience as a woman working in a STEM field and what it was like to have a family while being a woman in STEM,” said Danni.
Michelle, recently retired, was a senior director in technology at Nike, focused on delivering large global ERP based solutions. When she was at Mines, she didn’t know any computer scientists or engineers, and she didn’t fully understand what jobs were available.
“My mentors were the girls who were about two years older than me – people like Sharon Chontos (ChemE 87) – who graduated, got great jobs and showed us how it was done!”
But Michelle’s biggest mentor has always been her older sister, Jackie.
“No one in our family had been able to attend college, but when I was a little girl, Jackie always told me ‘When you grow up, you’ll go to Tech (as Mines was called then),’ she said. “With her encouragement and the help of grants and loans, I was able to do it. She always told me I could do it, and I believed my big sister.”
Danni said Michelle’s advice and encouragement have been instrumental to her last semesters at Mines.
“The mentor program has been a great way to understand what to expect from an industry job. It’s great to have someone with that experience help you with your resume and interview skills. I think it would be awesome to be a mentor someday.”
Michelle said the high quality and affordable education she received at Mines “changed the trajectory of her life,” and she is happy to help other students on their journey toward achieving their goals.
“The future is Danni’s! She is an extremely bright, focused and hard-working individual. It was truly an honor to meet her and get to know her.”
For more information on becoming a mentor, email Jo.Dwyer@sdsmt.edu, Alumni Engagement Coordinator.
