How I became a Mentee
So, the trailer for “Venom-2:Let There Be Carnage” came out on YouTube. The story about a powerful Alien Symbiote’s “bond” with an investigative news reporter. Moreover, what caught my ear was the featured song in it; “One” by Harry Nilsson (the original artist). A catchy melody and good lyrics. This again came into my mind the day when I got the email saying that I have been offered a position in ScholarX’s 2021 batch as a mentee. A 6-months mentorship programme for a selected set of students in Sri Lanka, created by SEF (Sustainable Education Foundation) consisted of professionals and scholars from Sri Lanka.(https://sefglobal.org/)
Rewind the time back to 2020, I was in the Industry as an Engineer with a permanent position just after finishing my Bachelor’s degree with a first class. I always thought that its no big deal to figure out most of the things by myself and that was true during my undergraduate period as well. After all, I had confidence in myself considering that I did well in the school and I believed that I had enough traits to do so as well. I had managed to do well many things by myself, yet, I began to understand later, that getting help from anyone who knows does not mean that I am incapable and reaching out more to the community (of professionals, scholars) is very important, as I saw my some of my friends who did that, benefitting vastly from it and I was somewhat limited and behind although having capabilities. It’s not that I did not do these at all, but I did not take them “seriously”.
Coming back to 2021, I thought I should pursue more in higher education & research and having thought of that I got the chance to apply to ScholarX mentorship programme. I thought, “well, this could be a chance to reach out more to the community and grow connections”. Later, I got the opportunity as a research assistant + MSc. student at my University and the mentorship programme started officially soon after that. It has only been a couple of weeks after starting the programme and just finished two sessions with my mentor and fellow mentees, yet, I found that I could gain more than what I initially thought. Yes, it was obvious that I could always seek good advice from my mentor, who is a PhD holder and working in US, and get lessons from his experiences to adjust my route better and valuable feedback as well. But also, I found that “motivation & inspiration” to do better, are two more invaluable things I could get. Especially, during the lockdowns, one cannot engage lively in the work environment and might be demotivated or let down by that factor alone. Furthermore, the fellow mentees being still undergrads and less experienced than me, makes me to share my experience and knowledge with them as well; a thing that I always love to do. It turned out be that, being a mentee helps not only in growing connections and getting advices in aspects specific to academics or professions but also getting inspired, motivated, gaining confidence and meanwhile, helping others too. So all together, it could help you do better in every aspect related to your aspirations with good balance too. It can also help to rectify your mistakes and develop through quality feedbacks.
One may think that being in such programme would be boring (which was same with me in my days as an undergrad) and would add more burden apart of the things that already burden the life, such as exams etc (Yep, I thought that too when I was little…). But, what I feel is that, especially an undergraduate should not miss such opportunity since the things that could be gained out of it could be much worthier than the time spent on it (in any aspect that matter to you — it could be at least, about how to maintain your portfolio properly or building a good LinkedIn profile/CV). Not only undergrads, anyone can benefit from good mentors and mentorship programmes related to a desired aspect. It’s also great to have your locals as mentors sometimes which can add extra inspiration and relate more, as the words “Sustainable Education” in “SEF” imply. It’s also important to find a good mentorship programme along with a good mentor (Dr. Sumudu Tennakoon) which I believe I was fortunate enough to find.
So coming back to the song (you should listen to it if already haven’t!), Harry wrote (Harry got the idea for the lyrics during a telephone conversation), “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do…”. Yes, sure it is!!!
#ScholarX #SEF
