Comments on: Mentor-Mentee: Self Discovery, Emotional Connections, Learning and Memory. http://www.otherlobe.com/2009/08/mentor-mentee-self-discovery-and-emotional-connections/ A Blog About Experiential Education, Social Media, and the Brain... Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:38:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Mercedes Carota http://www.otherlobe.com/2009/08/mentor-mentee-self-discovery-and-emotional-connections/comment-page-1/#comment-232 Mercedes Carota Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:25:16 +0000 http://www.otherlobe.com/?p=234#comment-232 Sheila, I am happy that someone has written about this. I sometimes wonder how people enter college “knowing” exactly what they want to do with their life. Or how they diverge from that path. I had always wanted to be a veterinarian, but entered Northeastern’s Business school. I could give you a litany of reasons why, but none would fully explain my decision, as I understand it. Environmental factors definitely, as you stated, effect the decision to pursue certain careers, but I also believe an entire set of positive and negative reinforcements continue with what careers are pursued. I also agree with you about Jim Stellar being a wonderful mentor. Often when students or teachers sign up to be a mentor, it becomes more work than the learning experience it should be for both parties. This is what his relationships are like with students: genuine relationships that evolve into friendships. So much focus is centered on guiding individuals through college and giving them role models. Often I find that if the relationship were not genuinely formed with the root of some common interest, then why would you take the advice of a complete stranger? The Matching Law correlates very well to your piece, Sheila. It exemplifies how not one choice or one decision led you to where you are today, but an entire host of decisions that maximize your current well-being. I think it is hard to isolate events and label them, but the matching law encompasses the entire being. You have touched on many points in your post that are all encompassing: relationships, learning, memory, emotion, decisions etc. They all affected you and made you the person you are today. Thank you for your post. Sheila,
I am happy that someone has written about this. I sometimes wonder how people enter college “knowing” exactly what they want to do with their life. Or how they diverge from that path. I had always wanted to be a veterinarian, but entered Northeastern’s Business school. I could give you a litany of reasons why, but none would fully explain my decision, as I understand it. Environmental factors definitely, as you stated, effect the decision to pursue certain careers, but I also believe an entire set of positive and negative reinforcements continue with what careers are pursued.

I also agree with you about Jim Stellar being a wonderful mentor. Often when students or teachers sign up to be a mentor, it becomes more work than the learning experience it should be for both parties. This is what his relationships are like with students: genuine relationships that evolve into friendships. So much focus is centered on guiding individuals through college and giving them role models. Often I find that if the relationship were not genuinely formed with the root of some common interest, then why would you take the advice of a complete stranger?

The Matching Law correlates very well to your piece, Sheila. It exemplifies how not one choice or one decision led you to where you are today, but an entire host of decisions that maximize your current well-being. I think it is hard to isolate events and label them, but the matching law encompasses the entire being. You have touched on many points in your post that are all encompassing: relationships, learning, memory, emotion, decisions etc. They all affected you and made you the person you are today.
Thank you for your post.

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