I’d like to take you through a Meet and Greet from a BestPrep coordinator’s perspective.
I’m all set up in the conference room, and mentors start to trickle in. This is the second time I’ve met the mentors, the first was as a trainer leading just another meeting – this time the mentors are giddy with pent up energy, enthusiastic, and a little unsure of what’s going to happen. They get nametags, find seats, and start talking a mile a minute with other mentors in the room.
It has built to a loud buzz that dies immediately when I announce, “The students have arrived, everyone listen for your student’s name and wave him or her over to you.” The students are outside the room, grabbing nametags and kinda-sorta lining up, not wanting to be the first and looking jittery, excited, and a little sheepish.
I call out students’ names, and off they go to their mentor; introductions, smiles, handshakes, and sometimes hugs. They have just enough time to get introduced and we let them know the schedule, starting with lunch!
They chat about their lives and the emails they’ve been sending, helped along the way by our icebreakers.
There’s just enough time to enjoy the pizza and then we start the first activity: Mock Interviews. This is maybe the moment the students have been dreading the most, but you couldn’t tell from the cool, collected responses they give our mentor-interviewers.
Interviews wrap up, feedback is given, and then we’re off to our next activity, mentor-led tours of their building and work space.
The pairs are back with ten minutes left before the bus leaves, and the students and teacher have prepared some words of thanks for the mentors for taking the time out of their schedules to help these students along. We have a few minutes for pictures and goodbyes, then the students head for the bus!
Meet and Greets are quick, but VERY lively and engaging. Mentors who want to convince some colleagues to join you next year, please share this with them! Thank you all for all of your effort and investment in the students; it is really appreciated, and know that you truly are making a difference in their lives.