Hey Team, sorry for the lack of catchy title, the song in my head was just too long.
So I am sitting pretty in Croatia, doing a lot of data work. photo-ID matching, data entry, cropping photos, renaming files, organizing files, etc. Lots of busy work while we wait for the weather to clear up so we can get on the waters again.
But I am here to talk about teaching and mentoring. Because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I have become a mentor.
Woah.
I mean, that was the point of this blog at the beginning, you know? To give hints and tips about marine biology to try and help others who are just starting down this path. I think it's become something a little different, but I think it's still possible to learn something from all my babbling.
Anyways. Mentors. I have had quite a few in my life. Sticking with those in my career path, most of them have been grad students, older than me, already partway through their own research who for reasons beyond my comprehension took a special interest in my quest to become a marine biologist and let me help them with their lab work, taught me how to look for grants, how to write applications and let me use their names when trying to find work.
And they helped. I came to them with questions, hopes, dreams and they actually cared. I know, I'm surprised as well. They were my friends and my teachers. Mentors.
Higher up the ladder, my supervisor for my honours thesis has also been a mentor for almost 3 years now. She's taught me how to write science articles, how to think critically about statistics and how to perform real behavioural experiments. Also my boss at DFO, probably for some strange reasons of his own, is always willing to hire me back when I am in Winnipeg, and has offered up a variety of projects if I ever have a long stretch of time with him.
These are people that if there was ever an 'Oscars' for my life, would be thanked in my awards speech. It's true that without them I would have probably failed. Miserably.
**
I have been a swimming instructor for 7 years. Five consecutively, then on and off for 2 years while I have been travelling. I have always, always, loved teaching, though usually I keep it to people under the age of 12.
One of the other interns here in Croatia is in her 2nd year of university in Germany, and she is just starting to do lab work and internships in marine biology. She has a lot of questions about different internships around the world, and how to do things like photo-ID and data entry.
It's not like I have a decade of experience under my belt, but I have enough that I can answer her questions, and now I have become one of those people who taught me so much. She asks me questions, tells me her plans for the future, and I answer her and encourage her.
The strangest part is that we are the same age. In Germany they start university a year late and she took a gap year, so although we are the same age, there is a big enough gap in our life paths that I can be a mentor to her.
It's weird though; I know that I take everything my own mentor's say so seriously, and now there's the chance that there is someone in the world doing the same with me.
It's a strange feeling, but a good one. I hope there will be lots and lots people I can help and teach in the future, because there are few things in life I love more.
There is also someone back home a friend got me in contact with that might also be asking advice about how to get into the field. I'm really hoping to lend her a hand, even if the competitor monster in me is roaring for me to stop. I so should have become a doctor.
**
Anyways, that was just a little thing about mentors. Not much to take from it, other than if you have the opportunity to become a mentor to someone, take it. You need patience, but it feels so rewarding when you know that you are making a difference in someone's life. And they are old enough to appreciate it.
Speak Loud!
No comments:
Post a Comment