I completed the Cooperative Extension Mentorship Program this past year with my mentor, Elizabeth Coots. The mentorship experience was very positive. Elizabeth and I had a formal mentorship experience that lasted roughly ten months. In these ten months, we met both in person and had over the phone conversations. We discussed educational programming, how to advise councils, collaboration/teamwork, how to be involved in my community, and leadership roles to potentially pursue. When I accepted this job as a FCS Extension Agent I did it because I wanted to be an educator. However, if you work in Extension then you know there is more to the job than just programming. Elizabeth helped me piece together information about my other job requirements.

 I remember one meeting in particular where I overloaded Elizabeth with questions. She patiently listened to all of my questions and gave me good, sound advice. She shared what worked well as a new agent and what she wished she knew when she first started. This was a day I was very thankful for. My mentorship experience allowed for me to grow as a new FCS Agent while also allowing me to form a new and valuable relationship.

Through the course of my mentorship, I sought the advice of my mentor a lot. Elizabeth tremendously helped me with how to better facilitate my Homemaker council meetings after I observed they were not very effective or timely. Elizabeth suggested setting up the room differently and making name cards for officers. I used these suggestions and set the tables in a square so every member was facing each other. I also made name cards for officers and placed them beside each other on the table so all officers would sit together. I found this to be very beneficial. She then gave me the advice of meeting with my president the week before the meeting to develop the agenda. This allows for my Homemaker President and me to be on the same page as we develop the agenda together and discuss the important issues we need to cover. These small changes really helped with the dynamics of the meeting and allowed for the meeting to run more smoothly and effectively.

Through the course of our formal mentorship, I learned so much from all of the experiences I had. The biggest impact my mentor had on me was the real life lessons she taught me about this job. She stressed the balance I must have with this career and my personal life. She expressed the importance of being involved in the community and shared simple ways such as looking at the local newspaper can help do that. However, the most important thing my mentor did for me was to be there for me when I had a question and encouraged me throughout the process of being a new FCS Agent. Without the mentorship program, I do not feel that I would be as successful as a FCS Agent as I am. I very grateful for this experience.