Orientation Booklet 2012 - University of Limpopo

Page 50 •Orientation Booklet 2012BUILDING A SUPPORT NETWORKt is absolutely crucial that you build anadequate support network throughoutIyour academic career and beyond; afterall, no one is an island.Student MentorsApart from your lecturers, these are the mostimportant people that you will encounter atUL.Ÿ Mentors are senior students who arecarefully selected and thoroughly trainedto assist you, the first year student to:Ÿ clarify your goals,Ÿ selected and understand yourŸcourses, andcomprehend what the Universityrequires of you.In short, your mentor is geared to help yousucceed in your academic career. Even so, awise mentor will neither tell you what to donor make your decisions for you. Instead, s/hewill try to give you the help and informationyou need to make wise choices for yourself sothat you can grow to be all you can be at UL. Inother words, while providing assistance, yourmentor will also expect you to activelyparticipate in your education by doing yourpart: asking questions, being informed,following through on suggestions, and doingyour academic work. More than anything else,your mentor will expect you to think aboutwhat you want to do, what interests you, andwhat courses or schedule you desireWhen will I first meet my mentor?Mentors will be assisting you from the veryfirst day that you arrive at UL. They will be thepeople in colorful T-shirts who will show youthe way to various buildings and take youthrough the Orientation Programme.At first, you will be paired randomly withmentors from various disciplines that will leadyou through the orientation programme.While first –year students generally remainwith this mentor until the end of their firstyear, some find that it is easier to work withanother mentor, in which case they go over toher/his group. This should, however, happenonly in consultation with the Senior Mentor ofthe particular School and the mentorherself/himself. Even so, every effort will bemade to keep you with the same mentorthroughout your first year as this has beenfound to be most conducive for your academicsuccess.And then?New students will typically meet their mentorin small group meetings as agreed uponbetween themselves and their mentor duringthe last day of orientation. Thereafter,meetings / sessions will be advertised bymeans of prior agreement, on notice-boardsand word-of-mouth. During these groupmeetings UL regulations and requirementswill be clarified and instructions given aboutmaking an individual appointment with yourmentor. At your individual meeting you canget more personally acquainted with yourmentor, ask questions that you may be too shyto ask in a groupAfter that, you will form peer study groupswith the help of your School mentors. Eachpeer study group consists of 5-10 students atthe most and meets with its assigned mentoronce a week for a total of 3hours each time.THIS IS INVAULUABLE STUDY TIME duringwhich you will review lecture notes and/or the