2010 Mentorships

How many people can say they have written a novel, designed a t-shirt for a national retail chain or written food reviews for a local publication?  Now, how many people can say they accomplished any of these things before they graduated from high school?  A group of East Mountain High School students are redefining what high school students are capable of through the school’s mentorship program, led by Gifted Coordinator Autumn Pearson.

Eight self-motivated students, ranging from sophomores to seniors, participated in the mentorship program this fall.  Students must apply to the program and demonstrate the maturity and initiative necessary to pick an area of interest, search for a mentor and develop an independent project.  Working with Pearson, this year’s group of students sought out and found mentors in fields as diverse as filmmaking, pharmacy, law, graphic design, photography and journalism.

According to Pearson, the biggest challenge for students can be narrowing down their interests and finding a good match with a mentor.  “I’m here to guide students, not to arrange a mentorship for them,” she said.  “I coach them and help demonstrate professional skills, but they are the ones on the phone making the calls and on the computer writing the emails.”

One of the biggest success stories of this year’s program was Alex Wine, who held a mentorship with Urban Outfitters.  He designed a t-shirt using John Lennon's image.  Urban Outfitters decided to produce the shirt to be carried in stores nationwide, and Alex's t-shirt was approved by Yoko Ono before production began.

Taylor Hale, a senior, also took her mentorship opportunities to new heights. Her ambition is to become a food writer and she arranged a mentorship with the Alibi, Albuquerque’s free independent weekly magazine.

Sophomore Marc Lucero completed his mentorship with Joseph Badal, author of Terror Cell, The Pythagorean Solution and the upcoming novel The Nostradamus Secret.  Lucero called it an amazing experience.  “I learned that you can’t be a writer unless you have a passion for it,” he said.  “It’s not enough just to have a good story, you also have to have the discipline to get it down on paper.”

Quinlan Cao, a junior, completed his mentorship with the District Attorney’s Office.  “The legal field is a lot more than Law and Order,” he said.  “The District Attorney’s Office is the largest law firm in the state with over 300 attorneys.  I spent a lot of time observing in Metro Court and talking to lawyers.  Most of them seemed to enjoy going to work in the morning and the whole experience only strengthened my passion for the law.”

Not every student found their passion.  Amaris Prechtel, a junior, completed her mentorship with Producer and Writer Lava Buckley.  “I’ve wanted to be in film ever since I watched the behind the scenes edition of Harry Potter,” said Prechtel.  However, once she actually got behind the scenes, she changed her mind.  “There was three hours of waiting for every thirty minutes of filming,” she said.  “I didn’t know there would be so much paperwork.”

According to Pearson, these kind of experiences are what make mentorships so valuable.  “Sometimes it just as important to learn what you don’t like doing,” said Pearson.  “Giving students hands-on experiences in the real world of a career helps them learn what the day to day experience of being a writer, filmmaker or lawyer is all about.”