Chapter 56 - The Faculty Mentorship Program
Upon returning from Geneva, my first priority was expanding our department's undergraduate mentorship initiative. As Chair of the Department of Economics, I wanted to ensure that no student entering Hartwell State ever felt invisible, unsupported, or lost in administrative red tape.
We launched the First-Generation Scholars Mentorship Program, pairing incoming students from underprivileged backgrounds directly with tenured faculty members and successful alumni.
On a bright Tuesday afternoon, I met with my first mentee: Marcus, a freshman economics major who was currently working morning shifts in the university dining hall to support his younger siblings. He sat in my office chair looking nervous, clutching a worn-out notebook filled with microeconomic formulas.
"Dr. Watson, I don't know if I can balance the work hours and upper-level calculus," Marcus admitted, his voice tight with anxiety. "Sometimes I feel like I don't belong in these academic buildings."
I smiled warmly, leaned forward across my mahogany desk, and looked him straight in the eye.
"Marcus, when I first walked into Whitmore Hall, I wore a dark blue work shirt and carried a mop bucket," I told him gently. "I spent nine years cleaning the floors of this very building before I ever sat in the student seats. You don't just belong here—you are the exact reason this department exists. If you ever feel overwhelmed, remember that the foundation is strong enough to hold you."
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Marcus stared at me in stunned silence, the tension visibly melting out of his shoulders as he realized he was speaking to someone who truly understood the weight he was carrying.
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