Beyond Mentoring
Beyond Mentoring is a chance for students to connect with alums, parents, and other friends of the College to complete short-term project-based work while receiving a stipend. This initiative, begun in Summer 2020 as a means of providing substantive work experiences for students during the COVID-19 pandemic, has grown since its inception and is made possible by a generous philanthropic gift from a Barnard parent.
What is Beyond Mentoring?
Beyond Mentoring provides students with opportunities to complete short-term, high-impact projects where they can develop professional skills, add to their resume, and develop a relationship with a Mentor. All participants receive a stipend for their work. Often called "micro-internships," Beyond Mentoring Projects have been an essential addition to the College's portfolio of opportunities for students to pursue mentorship since they were first initiated in 2020. Projects are posted on Barnard Connect in the "Projects" section in the months leading up to Winter Break and summer break.
How do Beyond Mentoring project help students?
Beyond Mentoring projects are a fantastic way to gain exposure to a new field, or to deepen skills in an existing area of interest. The skills used in a Beyond mentoring project are also transferrable to may different areas, as one's interests evolve over time. As such, they are great resume builders. Because each project host is a Barnard alum, parent, or existing employer partner of the College, Beyond Mentoring projects also provide a wonderful opportunity to expand a student's professional Barnard network which you will tap and contribute to over a lifetime! Stipends, which are a minimum of $300, provide some additional income to supplement other summer experiences or expenses.
What kinds of projects are part of the program?
Alums, parents, and employer partners have posted a wide range of projects for students. Hosts come from a wide range of industries, jobs functions, and stages of their own careers. Since Beyond Mentoring began, there have been 164 projects taken up by 124 individual student participants. Below are just a few examples of previous project postings:
- Analyze State Exam Data for a K-12 District
- Conduct Housing Justice Research
- Quality Check Normative Data for Key Digital Client
- Provide Silent Auction Fundraising Support
- Strengthen Social Media for Women's Right Docuseries
- Create Environmental Justice Section for Website
- Women's Bone Health/Researcher and Communications Expert
- Preparation for publishing: academic article review
- Design a virtual support group
- Create a promo video for our adoption content
How is a Beyond Mentoring Project different from a full internship?
Mostly in duration! Beyond Mentoring projects are short-term (20-30 hours total over a 2 - 4 week time period), largely virtual (although they don't have to be!) experiences.
How can alums, parents, and employer partners serve as a project host?
As a member of our community, we welcome project submissions for the Beyond Mentoring program. Projects can be submitted in November (for our winter break program) and in May (for our Summer break program) right through Barnard Connect. Be sure to check out the Program FAQ before posting and reach out to beyondbarnard@maotai30.com with any questions.