Education's Alice Lesnick Teams with Posse Students in Online Mentoring Guide
When Education Professor Alice Lesnick agreed to mentor a group of Posse students from Houston in 2016, she thought she had a pretty good idea what she was getting herself into. Lesnick had previously worked with the Mellon Mays program and informally mentored a number of students throughout a career that includes teaching at every level from pre-K to college.
However the Posse Program, which provided a level of mentoring structure and support unlike anything she had experienced prior, and the connection she made with this particular group of students, created a mentor/mentee relationship greater than any she had previously experienced.
“This was transformative for me because of the depth and consistency of the relationships,” says Lesnick. “I met with these scholars week by week, term by term, as they grew, navigated the college experience, took on leadership roles, made their way, challenged themselves, challenged others, found their places, and their voices,”
Lesnick wasn’t the only one transformed by the experience, among the Posse Scholars was Jada Ceasar ‘20.
“Alice really changed the trajectory of my life,” says Ceasar. “I don't think I would have been successful at Bryn Mawr without Alice. She constantly reminded me to tap into resources. She also provided the social support and social capital that is so important.”
In the fall of 2020, Lesnick was on a sabbatical leave and one of her goals was to discern and distill what she had learned from this unique experience.
To begin, she sent her Posse students a letter.
To my Posse:
To say it most succinctly, this is what I learned:
Be honest
Be yourself
Listen with the intent to learn
Respect, trust, and believe the student
Be ready to question institutional norms
Remember that you can’t know what is realistic for someone else
Keep your promises
Be accessible
Expect to move in ways not familiar to you
Lift your students up
Let yourself be lifted up by your students
To my Posse:
Greetings – I hope that you, your families, and your family of friends are well.
I want to write about what I learned as your Posse mentor. I want this learning to spread and contribute to positive, lasting change on Bryn Mawr’s campus and beyond.
To say it most succinctly, this is what I learned:
Be honest
Be yourself
Listen with the intent to learn
Respect, trust, and believe the student
Be ready to question institutional norms
Remember that you can’t know what is realistic for someone else
Keep your promises
Be accessible
Expect to move in ways not familiar to you
Lift your students up
Let yourself be lifted up by your students
These lessons may sound simple, but applying them is not.
When I think of our Posse, I think of your power and brilliance as individuals and your dedication and grace as a group. I recall the ambition and curiosity you each arrived with as first years and celebrate the shining record of accomplishment you each created through your undergraduate years. Many of these accomplishments have a public face: advanced study in many fields; distinguished work in the arts; leadership, fellowship, and professional positions held, and in several instances created, on and beyond campus; prestigious awards and honors; meaningful post-graduate employment and graduate education. Some of your accomplishments are private and personal. I acknowledge this with ongoing respect.
Across personal and public realms, you connected your values, questions, and passions to your work. I loved walking beside you as you claimed your education (Rich, 1979, p. 271). I am beyond grateful for this. -- Alice Lesnick
“Alice sent her letter and we just started responding to what she was saying,” says Ceasar.
That letter, and the responses of Ceasar and fellow Class of 2020 Houston Posse members Alexis Giron '20, Kathryn Gonzales '20, Princess Jefferson '20 and Victoria Mundy '20 (M.S.S. '22) formed the basis for Believing Each Other: A Guide to Mentoring, Believing Each Other, and Igniting Change.
To create the guide, the group met by Zoom every 8-10 weeks from 2020-2023 to discuss ideas for the content and how it would be presented.
As the group thought about how they wanted to present the material, they decided they didn’t want it to be a traditional “how-to” piece but rather something that showcased the deep reflection and rethinking that occurred amongst the group.
“It's not a top-down, ‘here's how to mentor’ thing because everyone can go on Google and get the top 10 tips for mentoring or whatever,” says Lesnick. “These are the voices of individuals who've done this together, and sometimes we speak as one voice like a narrator. And sometimes people give individual testimony.”
The group explains who the guide is for on its website.
“If you desire to alter an education system that allows only a few to succeed without another’s social capital and assistance, this guide is for you. It is for you if you work to build and sustain relationships that defy such exclusivity. It is for you if you are preparing to participate—as student, mentor, or steward—in one of the many access programs that work with colleges and universities in this mission. And it is for you if you want to be able to see, understand, name, and undermine the obstacles in our way.”
Funding for this project was provided by the College’s Change Agent Fund, which was developed to create an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to apply for funds that will support efforts to analyze, recommend, and provide solutions for inequities experienced at Bryn Mawr College.
"We were equals,' wrote Kathryn Gonzales '20 of the relationship that existed between the students and Lesnick. "It is the action of listening that is crucial in a mentor-student relationship, of looking someone in the eye; of remembering what they said a week or a month ago; of not judging them."