Alumni Diaries #6 : Molly Kent on Mentorship

Molly Kent, a Fall 2021 Semester in the City Fellow, reflects on the value of mentorship and her growth at her internship.

Semester in the City became a definitively transformative experience for me on the very last day of my internship. I remember that final Tuesday feeling a little uneventful at first. It was my last official day, but I knew I would be continuing to work for my host organization. My mentor asked me to get coffee for a final send-off of sorts. We walked a few blocks to everyone’s favorite coffee shop and settled in to discuss my experience at my internship. My mentor and I just enjoyed talking and learning more about each other one last time. We discussed how much the program had changed us: I had grown from a passive mentee to a leader in my position, and my mentor and I had both learned how to make time to cultivate professional relationships. We walked back into my internship site, teary-eyed and committed to staying in touch, promising to continue helping each other become better people and professionals.

I have been fortunate enough to have many mentors in my life, but the structure of Semester in the City sets up the mentor-mentee relationship in a way that purposely develops a sustaining relationship and network with your mentor and the people at your internship site. A good mentor is someone who is in the mentee’s life for an extended period of time, fostering their growth and helping them formulate their own wisdom. My mentor consistently made an effort to connect with me and learn about me and what makes me tick, which made our work more meaningful. The mentorship aspect of Semester in the City ensures that fellows aren’t running coffee and making copies, they are contributing to their internship; not only through their specialized work, but through the relationships they develop within the organization. I gained a life-long mentor through my internship with Semester in the City, and for that, I will forever be grateful.