SBSA Mentor 

The Stanford Biosciences Student Association (SBSA) provides a mentorship program for incoming first year grad students. I served as a big sibling for four different new graduate students.  The program has two missions.  The main mission is to give first year graduate students access to advice on everything from picking classes to choosing rotations.  Another mission of the program is to provide a venue for students of different departments to meet each other. 

Starting at Stanford can be overwhelming and often intimidating.  I know it was for me when I arrived. It’s a large university with many resources, but it’s not always clear how to find them.  The mentorship program is a great way to try and connect students to resources early.  Students can come to realize that students in other departments are also part of the resources on-campus. More importantly, it helps new students realize that even if things are challenging, it’s challenging for pretty much everyone.  Mentorship is an interesting form of teaching in that it is really observation and reaction. After moving to Sacramento, I mentored graduate students interested in science policy careers.