MENTORING GUIDE

MENTOR NAME:

MENTEE NAME:

Table of Contents

Million Women Mentors Thank You Note 01

About Million Women Mentors 02

HCPS’s Commitment to STEM 03

Week 1 04 - 05

Week 2 06 - 07

Week 3 08 - 09

Week 4 10 - 11

Week 5 12 - 13

Week 6 14 - 15

Week 7 16 - 17

Week 8 18 - 19

Week 9 20 - 21

Week 10 22 - 23

Week 11 24 - 25

Week 12 26 - 27

Week 13 28 - 29

Resources 30

Statistics 31

Notes 32 - 33

Volunteer Time Log 34

Thank you for joining

They say a teacher affects eternity. We agree, and so does a mentor. We know you want to be a great

STEM mentor, and on behalf of our team and our national partners and sponsors Welcome to Million

Women Mentors. Thank you for your pledge and commitment.

Please use this document as a toolkit to kick-start a great relationship with your mentee. Just 20 hours

can make a world of difference to a girl in elementary, middle or high school. How you approach your

pledge of 20 hours is up to you. We just ask that you coordinate this with the respective school.

This template should get you started, and we welcome your stories and innovations (email us at

mwm@stemconnector.org). Be sure to sign up for national webinars and MWM Weekly at

www.millionwomenmentors.org as we will have additional resources available for mentoring girls

and young women with key STEM skills. Special thanks to MENTOR, National Girls Collaborative

Project, ASTC and Girl Scouts for advising on this guide.

THANKS A MILLION & GOOD LUCK!

Florida Million Women Mentors Steering Committee

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget

what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

0

1

About MWM Through ENGAGING One Million Mentors, Our Goals Are To:

• Increase the percentage of U.S. high school girls planning to pursue STEM careers, currently 13

percent.

• Increase the percentage of U.S. young women pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM fields in

higher education up from 45 percent.

• Increase the percentage of U.S. women staying in STEM careers, currently 24 percent, through a

workforce mentoring, paid internship and sponsorship programming.

WE WILL:

• Lead a national call to action for corporations to join MWM and capture metrics around mentoring girls

and young women in STEM.

• Provide an automated, scalable and easy-to-use platform to eliminate barriers and facilitate large

numbers of STEM professionals (male and female) with tools to becoming effective mentors in

partnership with 35 national organizations reaching over 18 million girls.

• Match participating corporations to scaled non-profit partners and educational institutions in need

of STEM mentors and role models.

• Provide an environmental scan on “who” is doing “what” in mentoring, particularly women and girls

related.

• Recognize best practice and “who” is doing “what” in mentoring girls (middle school through

careers) in STEM learning.

MWM will support the engagement of one million science,

technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentors (male and

female) to increase the interest and confidence of girls and

young women to persist and succeed in STEM programs and

careers.

MWM is an initiative of STEMconnector® in collaboration

with over 50 leading national organizations and 20 sponsors.

Contact us at mwm@stemconnector.org.

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ALL STUDENTS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO A

MENTOR OR ADVOCATE WHO CAN GUIDE THEM TO MAKE DECISIONS THAT WILL

IMPROVE THEIR CHANCE TO GRADUATE

HIGH SCHOOL AND EXPERIENCE SUCCESS IN COLLEGE AND/OR

CAREER

Today’s global economy demands a highly skilled workforce equipped to drive innovation in a dynamic, high-tech committed to improving pathways to STEM education and careers, especially for girls and underrepresented minorities.

Almost two-thirds of BP’s U.S.-based employees work in STEM-related roles. In addition, more than half of all new BP graduate hires over the next decade will require a STEM degree. Investing in STEM is necessary to fuel our company’s growth and foster the talent we need to advance technology and innovation in the energy industry and across the U.S. Our investment in STEM education highlights our robust commitment to America.

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ALL STUDENTS WILL HAVE THE

OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN SCIENCE

CONCEPTS, APPLY MATHEMATICAL SKILL AND SOLVE PROBLEMS

THROUGH ENGINEERING AND

CRITICAL THINKING IN A DEEPLY TECHNICAL

ENVIRONMENT

ALL STUDENTS WILL

HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO

PARTICIPATE IN MULTIPLE VALUE-

ADDED COMPETITIONS AND EVENTS TO GROW

THEIR APPRECIATION FOR AND EXCELLENCE

IN STEM AREAS

Week 1 Getting to know you

Mentor and Mentee:

This meeting is to help you and your mentee make sure there is alignment and that the two of you

can work well together.

Ask each other the following questions, and any others that come to mind.

• Favorite movie, book or video game? What did you like about it?

• Something that you are very proud of?

• A learning moment in life or challenge you overcame (may need to modify according to age)?

• Visualize yourself as an adult. What do you see yourself doing professionally now and in five years?

Mentor:

• Ask questions about your mentee’s current thoughts and direction to assess your game plan

together. (i.e. If high school, is she already applying to colleges, does she have a job already?)

Mentee:

• List (or prep for next meeting) some areas in which you excel.

• List a few areas in which you would like to grow or learn more about, things you would like to

learn from your mentor or that they could coach and advise you in. Again, this need to be

modified based on age group being mentored. This becomes the goal of your mentor

relationship.

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible!”

- Audrey Hepburn

04

Notes:

ACTION ITEM

Schedule your next meeting.

Clarify expectations for your

relationship and the best

communication strategy.

“1 in 3 young people will reach

adulthood without a mentor.”

- Diane Quest, MENTOR

05

Week 2 Mentee Share

Tell me about a time when you felt that you were using your greatest strengths on a project. For instance, did you have a Science project you were assigned to work on or a project in another class? Or maybe it was something outside of school.

There are some areas in which we could each use some improvement. What are some

challenges you’ve faced in the past? This could be with learning or trying to master

something outside of school.

SMART goals

Talk about skills associated with science, technology, engineering and math and how they

relate to the mentee’s vision for herself. Have each girl create two to five goals for your work

together that involve learning and lead to defined outcomes.

Examples

“Research an area you are curious about”

“Apply for STEM scholarship (for high school age

students)”

“Interview a parent, relative, family friend or teacher about why they chose the profession they did. If

could focus on someone in STEM occupations, would be even better”

“For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by

virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women.”

— Elizabeth Blackwell

06

SMART goals: Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant • Time Bound

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

How I measure the success of my goals

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: Return with your

updated goals sheet to discuss

as future meetings and talk

about how to achieve your

goals.

Week 3 A soulful, learning conversation

Mentor share:

Talk about skills associated with science, technology, engineering and math and how they relate

to the mentee’s vision for herself. Create two to five goals for your work together that involve

learning and lead to defined outcomes.

Mentor share:

Share your professional experience to date and the areas in which you feel you need to grow

and learn and ask the mentee to do the same (using school or extracurricular activity).

Try to use the entire hour to share stories and learnings from both mentor and mentee.

“The best help we can offer the youth of today is to prepare

them for tomorrow.”

- Mark W. Boyer

08

Notes:

What I learned about my mentor/mentee:

ACTION ITEM

Mentor: Take home and review

your mentee’s SMART goal

sheets.

09

Week 4 The importance of your network

and five strategies to build it

Mentor, we leave this one up to you. Get creative and if you use LinkedIn,

Google+, are part of specific professional organization or other groups, tell o f

h o w e x t e r n a l s o u r c e s c a n b e u s e d t o h e l p t h e m e n t e e

c o n s i d e r o p t i o n s a n d w h e r e y o u r / t h e i r i n t e r e s t a r e .

For example: Explore how you can (any age group) learn more about STEM occupations and

the diverse professions you can choose. Ask the mentee to give examples of how they have

searched the internet, books and maybe even used technology, etc. that opened their eyes to

different ways they can be part of STEM. Share with them your experiences when networking

with colleagues, searching for your present job or researching or exploring topics in your

current profession. A link with a list of occupation: http://www.onetonline.org/find/stem/?t=0

The next time you meet, try to bring another woman leader to meet your mentee. Alternatively,

suggest a good book or website or article that could lend itself to a discussion on this topic.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me

and I learn.”

- Benjamin Franklin

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Notes:

ACTION ITEM

Mentor: Emphasize the importance of outreach

and critical follow-up skills, as well as what to do if

someone does not respond to your outreach.

Week 5 Action! Action! Action!

Mentee:

List the actions you will take (or have taken) this week and next to reach your SMART goals.

Mentor:

Show two role model videos from TEDx talk, Leanin.org, Fabfems.org, Code.org or another

website. What made these women successful?

“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them

in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create

themselves.”

- Steven Spielberg

12

Notes:

SMART goals

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: Update your SMART goals based

on your discussion and research. Give them

to your mentor. Research two STEM role

models in your field of interest.

13

Week 6 Happiness and a positive

mental attitude at work

Happy people are more productive people

Mentor, give examples from your professional life, and mentee, from your academic

or personal life, about people who seem to be genuinely happy. What makes them

this way? Abraham Lincoln said, “You can be as happy as you choose to be.” Do you

and your mentee agree with this statement?

Discuss the best way to avoid some common pitfalls that make people unhappy in

their professional and personal lives.

The website LRN.com is a good resource for this topic and is led by Dov Seidman

and Ted Leonsis, who also wrote a book on the subject. Related videos are available

online.

“Mentor duty should be the new jury duty.”

- Brandon Busteed

We at MWM agree that mentoring should be part of our civic responsibilities.

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Notes:

Happiness and culture

ACTION ITEM

Mentor and mentee: Research relevant

culture surveys or studies on happiness

and bring your findings to this meeting.

15

Week 7 Talking is important,

but experience

is the best teacher.

Based on your conversations with your mentee, suggest a STEM-focused development

experience they may not have otherwise considered. For instance, suggestions: Take a

trip to a science museum, participate in a math competition, interview young women

and leaders (this could be someone they know, a parent, family friend, relative, etc.) or

arrange to visit a nearby technology company or visit a manufacturing company that

uses robotics.

You may be able to get the school/teacher to help with this exercise.

“We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little

torches out to lead people through the dark.“

- Whoopi Goldberg

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Notes:

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Week 8 Mentee empowered!

Mentee:

Break down the SMART goals you updated on Week 5 into quarterly action items, or

what you will do in the next 90 days, six months, nine months and 12 months.

Each m e e t i n g , bring your mentor a two-paragraph update with:

• Where you stand against your SMART goals; areas of need.

• Highlights of your week.

• Challenges or barriers to your success.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in

which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing

you cannot do.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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Notes:

19

Week 9 Strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats (or challenges)

I am really good at:

I would like to grow in:

Opportunities (personal/in school):

Challenges to my success:

How to leverage my strengths in work and life:

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”

- Marie Curie

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SWOT chart

Strengths Weaknesses

Strengths are qualities that help you achieve your goals.

Weaknesses are qualities that limit your ability to

achieve your goals.

Opportunities Threats

Opportunities are elements in the external environment that

could help you achieve your goals.

Threats are elements in the external environment that could negatively impact your ability to

achieve your goal.

SWOT stands for:

Strengths • Weaknesses • Opportunities • Threats

Once you’ve completed your SWOT matrix, use the information to develop a strategy and answer the following questions:

• How can I take advantage of my strengths?

• How can I minimize the effect of my weaknesses?

• How can I capitalize on opportunities?

• How can I successfully manage threats?

ACTION ITEM

Mentor: Use the strengths-based approach

with your mentee and provide guidance

On the types of careers well-suited for her

strengths. Share your personal/professional

weaknesses and how you built a career

leading with your strengths.

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Week 10 Focus! Focus! Focus!

How do you prioritize the most important things in your personal and professional

life? Many young women experience elevated stress levels when they take on

too many commitments.

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible, and when they

fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”

- Amelia Earhart

ACTION ITEM

Mentor:

Visit www.millionwomenmentors.org and

find two partner organizations to serve as

resources for you and your mentee.

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To protect my time and focus; I am dedicated to saying “yes” to:

1.

2.

3.

4.

And “no” to:

1.

2.

3.

4.

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how

you respond to it.“

- Maria Montessori

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: What are three things you can

now say “no” to? What do you choose

to say “yes” to?

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Week 11 Connecting

Review the Million Women Mentors national partners list or other STEM

opportunities. Reflect on two of them and how you might connect to their official

STEM programs. Discuss what your mentee has already learned.

Discuss gender bias in STEM (see page 31 for statistics) and some of the

women role models your mentee has in her life, personally or in the media.

“A mentor empowers a person to see a

possible future, and believes it can be obtained”

- Shawn Hitchcock

24

Notes:

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: Connect with one or two

organizations for learning opportunities

related to your interests. Draft a letter

or email inquiring about their programs

and provide a copy to your mentor prior

to sending.

25

Week 12 STEM experience

Talk to the school contact person to see if they would be willing to participate in a

shadowing experience with the students at your work location or another location

with STEM occupations.

Alternatively, shadow a family friend who has an upcoming event or opportunity

that interests you. Plan to interview some leaders!

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

- George Bernard Shaw

26

Notes:

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: Is there an area/place where you

can share what you are learning with other

girls your age, i.e. classes, girl scouts, other

organizations you belong to? Also, have you

thought about volunteering over the summer

or during time off of school where you can

learn more about STEM?

Week 13 SMART goals

This should be your last meeting or the end of your 20 hours.

Summarize what you would like the mentees to continue to work on.

Discuss their goals, the ones they have achieved and the ones that are in the future and what the

best way is to continue working on their goals.

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Notes:

ACTION ITEM

Mentee: What actions can they take to ensure

they continue with their goals and exploration

of STEM? Mentor: Emphasize the importance of outreach

and critical follow-up skills. Explain what to do if

someone does not respond to outreach.

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Resources

• Research and tools from the National Center for Women and Informational Technology

(www.NCWIT.org).

• MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership (www.mentoring.org) - provides resources

on the value of mentoring, along with a guide developed by the Mentoring Partnership in

Pittsburgh(mentoringpittsburgh.org).

• Register to find STEM-related volunteer and mentoring opportunities on The Community Core

(www.npower.org).

• MentorNet (www.Mentornet.net) – online mentoring platform for undergraduate mentoring.

• Volunteer Match (www.Volunteermatch.com) – millions of opportunities!

• FabFems (www.fabfems.org) – a national database of women from a broad range of

professions in science, technology, computer science, engineering and mathematics who are

inspiring role models for young women. The directory is free and accessible to young women,

parents, girl-serving STEM programs and other organizations working to increase career

awareness and interest in STEM. The FabFems Project is an innovative online collaboration tool

brought to you by the National Girls Collaborative Project.

• Computer Science Resources – Girls Who Code (www.girlswhocode.com), Hour of Code at

Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) and Code.org (www.code.org)

• See video of female role models (many in STEM careers) at Lean In (www.leanin.org).

• Techbridge (www.techbridge.org) has a wealth of research and resources to help you develop

your skills as a mentor.

• Go to www.millionwomenmentors.org and sign up for Million Women Mentors Weekly and

count toward the million by adding your Pledge-to-Mentor.

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STEM Statistics

In the past 10 years, 80% of the fastest

growth in STEM jobs has been

3 times greater than non-

STEM jobs.

75%of all college

students are women and

students of color, yet they

represent only 45% of

STEM degrees earned each year.

growing occupations in the

United States depend upon

mastery of mathematics and

scientific knowledge and

skills.

Almost 30% of

all male college freshmen

planned to major in a STEM

field in 2006 compared with

only 15% of all

female freshmen.

While women comprise

48% of the

U.S. workforce, just

24% are in STEM

fields, a statistic that has held

constant for nearly the last

decade.

Women with STEM jobs

earned 33% more

than comparable women in

non-STEM jobs – considerably

higher than the STEM

premium for men.

31

Notes:

32

Notes:

33

Volunteer Time Log Name:

DATE

TASK DESCRIPTION

START

TIME

END

TIME

TOTAL

HOURS

Signature: Date:

34

THANK YOU FOR JOINING THE MENTORING MOVEMENT