District 196 Mentor Program Participants Display, Discuss their Work

For 70 students from all five District 196 high schools who participated in the most recent district's mentor program, their 12-week mentorship came to a close with an open house on Feb. 28. 

The open house showcased projects by the students and gave their mentors an opportunity to meet parents, teachers and other students.

According to Maureen Love, program coordinator, the open house is a way to wrap up the mentorship and also gives her a chance to thank the mentors for their commitment to the program.

Truth be told, it's not the thanks from the school district that keeps mentor Dan Rosenbush coming back year after year. Rosenbush just mentored his 5th and 6th students and says "it's absolute joy to bring them along and see their enthusiasm to learn."

Rosenbush, an RN at Fairview Ridges Hospital, has a "bucket list" of procedures and areas of the hospital for his mentors to experience, including: lab, neonatal ICU, telemetry, cardiac stress tests,  echo cardiograms, radiology, and sedation.

For Sage Peterson, a senior at Eagan High School who will be attending the University of Kansas in the fall, Rosenbush's position in the float pool provided her with exposure to various stations and also gave her an opportunity to learn from a 20-plus-year veteran of her chosen profession.  

In contrast, Angela Gonzalez, Sara Warriner and Dan Young from Eagan-based 3M Purification (formerly Cuno, inc.), hosted their first mentor student, Eagan High School senior Shae Kelley. Although 3M has participated in the past , this was the first time their air filtration group has provided mentors.

Gonzalez said, "It was great. Shae has great insights into engineering and was able to look at the data and ask really good questions."

Kelley performed a waste analysis mapping processes using Six Sigma methodologies. As result of her experience in a manufacturing environment, Kelley is considering a career in  industrial engineering when she attends college in the fall.

Kelley's father, Mark Kelley, himself an engineer says the mentor program is a great way to get exposure to "the real engineering world" which includes, or example, practice  making presentations in addition to purely technical skills.  

New mentors are always welcome. Interested individuals may e-mail Love at maureen.love@district196.org.