Cynthia Rosales – iMentor

Juniors at Phoenix Military Academy have been given the opportunity of having an iMentor. An iMentor is a mentor matched to you based on interests on future careers and hobbies. Jorge Bahena, a current junior at Phoenix Military Academy, is participating in this program.

“My mentor’s name is Bobby McDonald and he works at a company called Sales Force. Essentially, he is hired by other companies to sell their product or service to other companies or businesses,” said Bahena.

Mentors are assigned to students in order to assist them in college enrollment and success. This is very beneficial to students because they now have one on one assistance. If they have any questions or comments they can just ask their mentors.

“My mentor has connections to help me explore what studies and careers I may be interested in,” said Bahena.

Before deciding to participate in this program, Bahena was having some doubts about it. He was not sure about the program itself, being beneficial to him. Although he had doubts, he made the decision of participating in the program.

“It was optional but essentially all the juniors signed up because there would be more of a push on you to join if you crossed out “no” on the paperwork. Honestly, I wasn’t really looking at it much and I didn’t really want to join because I felt like it wouldn’t be all that helpful to me,” said Bahena.

Students meet with their mentors once a month at school. Many also meet with their mentors outside of school. Every student meets with their mentors individually, which really allows their mentor to go in depth about their mentees future.

“We discuss mostly college and education routes throughout the meetings since that’s technically what iMentor is about, but on our off time before the session starts, we just talk a bit informally about what’s going on at school and just personal interests, like friends. Our next two events will be workshops in the Willis tower (Sears tower) way up in the 90th floor, and the one after is at IIT,” said Bahena.

Overall, Bahena is very comfortable with his mentor and thinks he made the best choice by signing up to be a part in the program. Seniors at Phoenix Military Academy should have been given this opportunity as well. Nonetheless, iMentor is a great program for students to obtain help and support on furthering their education.