Mentors and mentees of the BCCIE Mentorship Program gathered on January 26, 2018 to celebrate the mid-year mark of the program.

International Education professionals travelled to Vancouver, BC from across the province to engage in the new professional relationships achieved in the BCCIE Mentorship Program so far. Dr. Randall Martin, Executive Director at BCCIE welcomed the attendees with a speech highlighting the roots of mentorship. Martin encouraged the audience to recognize the benefits of mentoring programs for both mentees and mentors because everyone involved is affected.

The BCCIE Mentorship Program offers valuable mentoring across the International Education sector in BC as opposed to within an organization. The program matches mentors and mentees based on their professional and personal goals in a formal application process. The year-long mentorship journey began in August 2017 for this group of participants, resulting in five months of collaboration and relationship building by the mid-year event.

Some mentor and mentee pairings had the opportunity to meet in person for the first time at the event. “My mentee and I are getting to know each other over Skype. But meeting in person takes the relationship to the next level. When we go back, it’s going to be much easier to dive deep. That’s why these events are so important,” says Kara Bertram, Manager, Global Engagement at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Following the successful event, the pairings have the opportunity to continue working together for the next few months on various goals. For Xianjing Zhang, Global Engagement Coordinator at the University of Victoria, she would like to learn more about professional development. “My mentor, Kara, has given me amazing advice already and I am looking forward to more.”

Participants of the BCCIE Mentorship Program will gather again in Vancouver, BC at Summer Conference 2018 to celebrate the completion of the program and their accomplishments.