Since the inception of the EAL Nursing Student Support program, a key element of its success has been the vibrant mentoring portion of this innovative program.  We felt it was important to purposely structure this activity so that all members allied with this group could receive high quality mentoring.   It began with training a number of senior nursing students to act as mentors for EAL nursing students.  This peer mentor program has been effective well beyond our expectations. EAL nursing students have found having a peer mentor invaluable in learning about Canadian culture, getting assistance on academics, and having a fellow student to listen to their challenges and successes. In many cases, friendships were forged, bridges crossed, and insights were shared.  In addition, peer mentors seemed to gain on a personal and potentially professional level through their participation in this program.  They learned about themselves and began to truly see that mentoring is a bi-directional activity in which both parties benefit.  Due to the importance of mentoring, we have dedicated this month’s EAL newsletter to this crucial aspect of our wonderful support program. Thank you to all our mentors!!

L. Choi and The EAL Nursing Support Program Team

When I was asked to provide my thoughts on the mentorship process, it turned out to be an interesting exercise.   I started off by reviewing the history of my mentoring experiences and seeing these experiences in a chronological fashion.  I was quite pleased with myself about how many students have been aided by my mentoring.  To some extent, as I was becoming more adept as a mentor, I began to view the whole process as almost predictable.  I began to reflect on this almost overly-proud view of my skills and how experienced I was becoming in aiding students, mentors and colleagues.  Yes, I do possess some knowledge in certain areas, but it dawned on me that my role in mentoring was not about me, it is about you, the mentees.

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Thank you to everyone who contributed to another successful year of EAL Nursing Student Support Program.  Special thanks to Judy Collins, Caithlyn Pasion, Charmaine Law, Danielle Kim and Lesley Morgan.  A heartfelt thanks to our new writers (Mengyu Song and Sayuri Serediak) for their courage and willingness to share their thoughts publicly.

A number of special projects were accomplished by our  students, alumni and faculty.  Special mention to Yenzin Choedon, Tomoko Wagatsuma-Kiat, and Sayuri Serediak who selected our support group to take on leadership roles as part of their fourth year leadership course.  They participated in assisting other EAL nursing students and presenting on this support group.

Please check out Sayuri’s story via an audible presentation.  Please click on the following link.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4116332/EALTips_1.wmv
If you are interested to participate and/or inquire about this program, please contact Liza Choi at lchoi@mtroyal.ca or Lesley Morgan lmorgan@mtroyal.ca.