Study tips, learning styles, stress maintenance, and effective skim reading are only some of the many skills taught on the first floor of Kanbar Hall as part of the Baldwin Mentoring Program.
The program, a great resource to enhance academic performance, is housed in the same space as the Quantitative Skills Program and the Writing Project. It is often overlooked by Bowdoin students.
Started by Elizabeth Barnhart in 1999, the program aims to offer students a resource to help them become confident in their abilities to perform their best in the classroom.
According to Barnhart, the program gets around 200 participants each year from a wide range of classes and backgrounds, although first years are especially common.
"Some students come to Bowdoin really never having developed study skills because they never studied in high school, either because they simply didn't want to or didn't have to," said Barnhart. "Oftentimes those students come to Bowdoin and are overwhelmed with the change in academic environments."
"We also get a lot of really good students who simply have too much on their plates, so we help them find a way to manage it all," she added.
Kathleen Lewis '10 visited the Baldwin Program during the first semester of her first year after struggling to adjust from high school to college academics.
"As a first year I just felt kind of disoriented. I had no idea how to handle college life before I came here. You don't go to class from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., which was new, and then I had theater and lots of meetings," said Lewis. "There's no sort of 'Pre-O' for freshmen as far as what to do once you're here. There's no instruction on how to survive at all."
Lewis' mentor, Sara Griffin '09, sat next to Lewis and smiled as she heard Lewis reminisce about adjusting to Bowdoin.
"It was interesting, because it's not like I had a lot more experience than Kathleen when I started mentoring her," said Griffin. "But I suppose I was just a little bit more familiar with everything and that's what made the difference. It was cool though, because we are a lot alike and so it was like meeting with a friend each week. That's what a lot of the mentor-mentee relationships become like."
Students who come into the program are asked to take a series of self-examinations to assess their interests, study habits, and learning styles. They are then placed with mentors who match those interests and learning styles, and the pair meet once a week at a set time convenient for both students, though it is also common for a mentor-mentee pair to meet outside of regular hours.
According to Barnhart, the program is not concrete?it adjusts to the wants and needs of each student.
"People coming in usually want to make some kind of change," said Barnhart. "We also look a lot at the individual student and their strengths and weaknesses and then assess those characteristics in relation to their course load, et cetera."
Students often come in for help with introductory level courses like Economics 101 or Psychology 101, but the Center caters to a variety of needs.
"Our goal is to help a student become as independent as possible, and we can do that as soon as we get to the root of the problem," said Barnhart. "A student may come in with a complaint as simple as, 'I can never wake up for my eight o' clock class. Help!,' and we'll come up with ways to address that problem."
Students are paired with a mentor chosen from a staff of between 20 and 30 mentors who have submitted their applications and been through interviews with Barnhart. After being accepted as mentors, the students undergo a five-day training process before Pre-Orientation begins each year.
"I try to decide whether or not that student will complement the group of mentors I already have," Barnhart said. "Since mentors are paired with Bowdoin students, I want my mentoring staff to be reflective of the whole Bowdoin community."
Mentors are paid $8.25 an hour and must apply through Bowdoin's Student Employment program like students applying for other jobs on campus.
"I feel like I have the best job on campus," said Griffin. "I basically get to make friends with other students and help them to feel comfortable here."
"Sara definitely helped me get adjusted," said Lewis. "She helped with time management, procrastination, scheduling, and getting acquainted with the campus, but also in just giving me someone to know on campus and have coffee with or vent to."
"The program is awesome because it develops students who are trained in helping peers with academic issues, and those trained students are going to help people throughout campus without even realizing it," Griffin said. "It's a shame, because I feel like people just really don't know about this program or the resource that's available to them."
"The term 'mentor' sounds so formal, but it's not like that," Griffin added. "The whole program is much more friendly and laid-back than I think people realize."
"Baldwin Mentoring isn't a serious thing involving a huge time commitment," said Barnhart. " We just want to help."
Baldwin Mentoring Program's hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Science mentors are available from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.