September
SESSION ONE
So, this is my dad, Dr. Dale Stewart.
He’s a Spanish Literature professor at Columbia.
He’s pretty smart.
Gracias, mija.
Okay, Dad, so we are supposed to interview our mentors. I have a list of questions here.
Shoot.
Number one: What’s the most important quality of a mentor?
Well, before I answer that, do you know who the original Mentor was?
What do you mean?
From the Odyssey. Odysseus left Mentor in charge of his kingdom when he went away: Mentor watched over Odysseus’s son. He did this gladly. You see, a mentor teaches for the love of teaching. A mentor leads his students, sometimes indirectly, to the answer.
A mentor can be sneaky.
(Laughs, coughs)
What’s your answer to the question then?
I think the most important quality of a mentor is that they are open to following students where they want to go. Not always pushing their own agenda.
Okay, got it. Thanks. Number two: Who’s one of your mentors?
That’s easy. Your mother.
What? Why?
Because she helped me the most at a time when I needed it, and always encouraged me to dream big without telling me what to dream.
She did?
Yes, Mira, she did.