Orchid – “A mentoring program for students by students”
The Orchid program aims to help students achieve their academic goals and graduate with honours. It was started in 2011 by Guy Drori, a Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering student. The programme is managed by students for students in a confidential manner (none of the information is passed to the academic staff).
Main objectives of the programme
- giving an opportunity for those who do not usually ask for assistance to get extra help
- bridge the gap between the year groups
- pass on experience and knowledge from year to year
- allow students with high achievements to help fellow students
How does it work?
Students from the third and fourth years, who finished the previous year with distinction, volunteer their time to help a student in the year below with academic challenges on a weekly basis throughout the year. The mentors are only assigned one student, and the sessions are scheduled according to the mentor and mentee availability.
Orchid coordinators, one student from second year and one student from third year, will coordinate between the mentees and mentors and will assign the mentors according to the student needs and the mentor’s academic strengths.
Potential mentors will be contacted at the start of each academic year.
How can I ask for mentoring help?
If you're in second or third year and need any assistance, all you need to do is contact your year co-ordinator. You should give them your contact details along with an specific subjects you're looking for help with.
You'll then be contacted by the year co-ordinator to tell you who your mentor is and will set up an introductory meeting. You can contact the year co-ordinator throughout the year. Please not that there's a limited number of mentors and that the year co-ordinator assigns mentors on a first come first serve basis.
Student feedback
The Orchid program received very good feedback from both mentees and mentors since the program was introduced. It's helped many to face their academic challenges.
Do you feel that your mentor assisted you in achieving your academic goals?
"Very much so, I now feel more confident in my ability to deal with structural problems that I previously found difficult to understand fully”
Was the experience beneficial?
“Yes. I do not believe I would have performed as well in the structural module had I not taken part in Orchid”
“Yes, very much. It has greatly increased my confidence in AutoCAD and design software usage which is a key area in this/my subject”