Along with participating in Cardinals Soar, students can also participate in Build Your Nest, Catholic University’s new mentorship program! 

What is Build Your Nest?

The goal of Build Your Nest is to connect students with faculty and staff mentors with similar interests and backgrounds to assist students in connecting with the Catholic University community. This program is open to students of all years and students are able to continue within the program during all four years at Catholic, either with the same mentor or switching mentors. Research has found that when students are participating in a mentor program with faculty and staff, students are more engaged in their college experience, faculty are more effective in the classroom since they understand students more and graduating students are more creative, capable, and satisfied with their lives and careers (McKinsey, 2016).

The mentor relationship that is created helps students develop a better understanding of the Catholic U culture and develop the skills and tools necessary to be successful during their time here. Build Your Nest also allows students to be responsible and intentional in their personal development and be exposed to new relationships and experiences. In the end, we hope students continue to build their nest with the newly created relationships, knowledge, and skills they gained through their participation in this program. 

How do you participate?

Students are paired with faculty and staff mentors through a matching process that focuses on areas of interest, backgrounds of participants, and anticipated involvement within the program. Once a match is identified, the mentor and mentee will be introduced to each other through email. The mentors are required to then meet with the mentee to start developing their mentor/mentee relationship. This can be done either in person or virtually, but it is required as it is an important first step within the process and should be done soon after the email introduction. Students and their mentors are required to connect at least three times per semester to discuss different topics of interest and to attend a variety of events on and around campus, which are highlighted in a monthly newsletter. Participants are also asked to complete a Fall Semester and an End-of-Year Assessment to evaluate the program and ensure it is meeting the needs of the participants.  Additionally, mixers are held at least once a semester to help students and mentors connect even more. New this year, we will have a Mentor/Mentee competition where pairs receive points for participation in a variety of activities. The pair(s) who have the most points at the end of the academic year will win a prize! 

How do you sign up?

If you are a student and interested in having a faculty or staff mentor, fill out the Mentee Application. If you are a faculty and staff member and are interested in becoming a mentor, fill out the Faculty and Staff Mentor Application. 

We will being pairing mentors and mentees at the beginning of October. While the form will remain open past October and we will pair people on a rolling basis, we ask that you submit by October 4th in order secure a mentor or mentee this semester.

For questions on this program, reach out to the Leadership Team at oca-leadership@cua.edu.

Want more mentorship opportunities? 

Along with Build Your Nest, Catholic has other mentorship opportunities which range from career focused to major focused mentorship. Click here to view some other mentorship opportunities on campus!