Talent Development Mentor Program (TDMP)
February 2007
Grades 11-12, registration in previous year
The Talent Development Mentor Program is a new, collaborative venture with Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Bloomington, and Hopkins schools beginning in 2006-07. This two-term class is open to juniors and seniors and is designed to connect students with career professionals. Working with mentors in a field of interest helps build professionalism and leadership skills. Students also benefit from practice in peer networking, career exploration, and portfolio development.
Students and parents from all of the Mentor Program sites gather a few weeks before class starts for an evening of introductions and networking exercises. This information along with other pre-class activities helps to prepare the student for the mentoring experience. Students enter the program with ideas already developed around their career area of interest, guided by a questionnaire they complete between registration and the start of class. Preparation for the mentorship includes activities around networking, professionalism and how to be a mentee, as well as informational interviews with 5 or more companies in the student’s area of interest. Students will role play the process of setting up and conducting interviews to gain confidence in doing so.
After the first four weeks students begin the mentorship process and report to class on a weekly basis, in addition to spending about 4-6 hours per week at the mentor’s business site. The particular schedule of hours with the mentor is determined by the mentor and student. Some students from the 2006-07 class are pursuing mentorships in the fields of healthcare, biomedical engineering, journalism and design. A mentorship could be started in any field. If students have difficulty identifying companies for the informational interviews or the actual mentorship experience, they will be given help.
The instructor for the class is Eden Prairie High School teacher, Mark Anderson. Mark also teaches AP Microeconomics and Marketing. Irene Kelly is a community consultant helping to develop the program and work with mentor sites. Students attending the program in its first year are from Wayzata and Eden Prairie. A task force has been formed with representatives from Wayzata, Bloomington, Hopkins and Eden Prairie to develop the details for future years of the program.
Sophomore and junior students who are interested in this program should sign up for it as part of the regular registration process in winter (February) for classes the following school year. The class requires availability during 4th block for quarters 3 and 4, and is a 2-credit course. There is also a separate registration application to be filled out for this program, including two references. This application will be available in the Career Resource Center. Mentor Program staff will interview the applicants before final approval for the program. There is no required GPA or class rank for acceptance.
Mentors and mentees sign a contract agreeing to their roles in the program. Mentor Program staff regularly visit with the mentors during the weeks of the mentorship.
Students who go through this program will be evaluated on a number of factors, including the creation of a portfolio based on the mentorship experience, TDMP staff evaluation of the student’s classroom participation, and the mentor’s evaluation of the following:
- job knowledge
- quality and quantity of work
- communication
- tenacity
- accountability
- teamwork
- feedback
- professionalism
- dependability
- ethics and integrity
Questions can be directed to Mark Anderson or Kathy Palmer, Career and Technical Director.