It’s been a while since I’ve been a student in class. Back then, college campuses didn’t have email or internet, and, as an English major, I spent a small fortune on blue books. Mind you, TP’s college experience happened on some prairie out west, and his biggest fear was making it back to the one-room schoolhouse before Miss Beadle stopped ringing the bell.

My reintroduction to being a student in higher ed came over the summer, when I enrolled in a new badge program that Marietta’s Instructional Technologist, Linda Roesch, created. The Mentoring Mindset Badge is a three-week online course that guides staff into developing the skills and the knowledge to be strong mentors. This was part of the College’s new Student-Ready College initiative, which you can read about in this issue.

Though completely online, the new badge program was a great way to get to know fellow staff members in my cohort, as well as understanding what being a mentor involved, cultural humility, and growth mindset strategies. With all staff members being invited to take the courses for free, Marietta’s staff can share a common understanding of their roles as mentors and how that positively impacts the lives of our students. While being online was a change, the coursework and the class bonding was still engaging.

It has been remarkable to see faculty, staff and administrators fully commit to making Marietta College student-ready so our current and future students can find success inside and outside of the classroom — and it’s been a real pleasure being part of this initiative.