| In the Community - Mentoring Murry Bergtraum High School The FWA Mentoring Program at Murry Bergtraum High School has become a prototype for successful one-on-one mentoring and a key example of the FWA’s focus on developing future generations of business leaders. For twenty years, the Financial Women’s Association has partnered with the educators at Murry Bergtraum High School, one of the longest continuous partnerships in the city school system, to help participating students reach for academic and personal success and to overcome any obstacles, financial and otherwise, that may cross their paths. Through the relationship with their mentors, students who participate in the FWA Mentoring Program (22 participants 2004-05!) learn to appreciate the value of an education, expand their horizons, and realize future plans. They realize firsthand the value of hard work, that success comes in many forms, and that the road to success may be strewn with obstacles. The FWA High School Mentoring Program provides a variety of cultural, educational and fun activities, designed to expose the students to a broad array of developmental opportunities and to ensure occasions for students and mentors to bond with each other and with other members of the program. The FWA offers scholarships to attend the Kaplan Educational Centers SAT preparation course, enabling mentees to improve their SAT performance, in some cases by over 100 points. Since 1987, the FWA has provided scholarships for qualified mentees continuing on to college. Fixed-amount scholarships are offered enabling the FWA and the mentees to better plan their budgeting. We know that through their own participation in the program, the FWA mentors learn from their mentees. They gain front-row seats viewing the world through the eyes of savvy teens and stay current on the latest events important to this generation. In 2005 we especially celebrate former MBHS mentees who have now become full-fledged FWA members while developing their own business careers. These former mentees are now active in FWA Next Generation committees, providing a direct connection to today’s mentees while providing real-life examples of the results of our programs. Baruch College The FWA’s Mentoring Program at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, currently in its third full year, is now comprised of 30 pairs of mentors and mentees. In the first of cohort of June 2004 graduates ten young women succeeded in obtaining positions in the financial services industry! Baruch, the nation’s largest undergraduate business school, is the ideal site for this program. It is nationally ranked in several areas, including the diverse student’s high pass rate on the CPA exam. U.S. News and World Report has consistently ranked Baruch’s MBA program among the top nationwide, and in 2004, Baruch’s undergraduate program entered the “top 50” rankings. The “fit” between this institution and the FWA was underscored when Kathleen Waldon was named Baruch’s first woman president, serving in the academic arena after a career in the financial services industry. Despite the school’s academic strength, Baruch College students face challenges that nurturing relationships with the FWA help overcome. Many are recent immigrants to New York City; many more live with parents who are first generation Americans. For those whose parents do not hold professional or executive positions, the Mentoring Program provides a window on a new and eagerly sought after world. Baruch students can apply for the FWA program after completing the school’s core business courses. The primary focus is on personal and career development using one-to-one mentoring; networking with mentors and other FWA members at FWA receptions; and several luncheon meetings each semester on the Baruch campus, each focused on a different topic in which the students have expressed an interest. The 04-05 academic year featured an interviewing skills workshop led by the head of an executive recruitment firm, a panel on career path options in the field of accounting led by a managing partner at Deloitte, and a panel on Office Politics moderated by the former president of Catalyst. Mentees develop effective presentation and networking skills by representing the program on panels at FWA membership recruitment events and attending FWA programs. In January 2005,the McGraw Hill Companies provided the generous underwriting that supported the attendance of 20 students at the FWA Microfinance Symposium at the UN. Building a personal relationship between mentor and mentee is at the heart of the program. It has helped mentees win internships at prestigious firms, participate in the College’s Study Abroad Program and apply for challenging positions in financial institutions. And this new relationship is very much a two-way street. All mentors become members of Baruch’s Executives on Campus Program with an ID card that grants access to Baruch’s programs, lectures, colloquia and symposia, as well as the use of the award-winning library. Need more information? For more information about the FWA mentoring programs, visit the Mentoring Committee page. |
April 5, 2005