Floor Mentors of the Year
This award is to recognize two Floor Mentors (one virtual and one in-person) who served as an all-around example of excellence in their mentoring role. Strong nominees will have provided consistent, thoughtful, tailored support to mentees in all mentoring settings, going above and beyond to provide individual support. In addition, nominees will have promoted enthusiasm and pride in the LC while encouraging deep thinking and intellectual inquiry in connection with the Learning Community experience.
Cameron Cable
Engineering House
Cam is a sophomore Engineering House Floor Mentor! He has lived in the Engineering House for 2 years now, majoring in Management for Engineering & Manufacturing. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, basketball, watch Netflix, and eat an absurd amount of peanut butter sandwiches!
I am honored to have been nominated for the Floor Mentor of the Year award and I am grateful to be recognized for my hard work that I have put into this role for the last two semesters. The Floor Mentor of the Year award is so competitive because of all the qualified Floor Mentors that can receive this, and being a part of the Floor Mentors being considered for the award is a wonderful achievement in itself.
My experience as a floor mentor has of course been challenging given the Pandemic, that is something all floor mentors can agree on. Aside from that, I loved the entire experience of planning events and meeting all of the amazing people in the Engineering House. From meeting students virtually to meeting them in person, it felt great to make a difference in the community that has made my college experience so memorable up to this point. A lot of students definitely felt disconnected this year, so it was apparent that I had to put in triple the effort in building an engaging community where everyone feels included.
Once again, I am humbled to be nominated for the Floor Mentor of the Year award, and I could not have been considered if it were not for the faculty and my other Floor Mentors that have helped me grow as a leader and as a person. There is no doubt in my mind that whoever receives this award is deserving of it because this year had an outstanding group of Floor Mentors; with that being said, I am happy to accept my nomination and will be very grateful if I am chosen to receive this award.
Rose Karvandi
WiMSE House (Women in Math, Science & Engineering)
Rose is an Honors Physiology & Neurobiology major with a minor in Human Development & Family Sciences, on the pre-medical track. She has thoroughly enjoyed serving as a WiMSE Floor Mentor this year! She’ll forever cherish the memories she has made in the LC Program, and is so excited to go on to utilize the leadership skills she has been able to develop as an LC student leader.
To those who nominated me, I can’t thank you enough. I’m so grateful to not only be nominated for this award, but to have gotten the chance to serve in such an exciting & fulfilling leadership role. I’m so lucky to have been able to be a part of such a fantastic Learning Community (Go WiMSE!) with an amazing Leadership Team that has gone above and beyond to serve their students during this pandemic. I am especially grateful for the unwavering support from the LC Staff. Their dedication to supporting LC student leaders does not go unnoticed.
I have enjoyed every second of being a Floor Mentor this academic year. Serving in a student leadership role during a pandemic has taught me the importance of 3 things: resilience, flexibility, and ambition. I have had great joy in facilitating deeper conversations about the importance of mental health, physiological impacts stress can have, the importance of drive & determination as a woman in STEM...topics we often just scratch the surface of. I truly hope these conversations have fostered a sense of confidence and empowerment in our up-and-coming future student leaders! I have had a few very personal challenges this academic year. Despite the extreme sensitivity of the challenges, I felt comfortable enough to confide in WiMSE’s Graduate Assistants, and I am so grateful for their support (Thank you Michelle & Becca).
The best word I can use to describe my experience this year as a Floor Mentor is: Growth. I have grown in terms of my leadership skills, I have grown in terms of my abilities to connect & empathize with others, and I have grown in terms of instilling confidence in myself. I have learned to advocate for not only myself but for those that I serve, and that is something I will take with me throughout my college career, career in medicine, and beyond.
Floor Mentor of Character & Inclusion
This is award is to recognize a Floor Mentor who served as an example of ethical mentoring practices. Strong nominees will have upheld the values of their community by being a role model of a successful, active, engaged LC member, while also exhibiting inclusion, advocacy, and empathy for all in the community, challenging any norms which do not serve all members.
Margaret (Maggie) McGuire
Leadership House
Maggie (She/Her/Hers) is a 2020-2021 Leadership Learning Community Floor Mentor and a Junior, Political Science major. She has aspirations of attending law school after college and pursuing a career in politics and/or law. She is passionate about social justice advocacy and I am an avid coffee drinker/Starbucks enthusiast.
I am honored to have been considered and I graciously accept my nomination for Learning Community Floor Mentor of Character and Inclusion. Through serving as one of the Leadership Learning Community’s Floor Mentors this year, I was hoping to bring positivity to the community after what has been such a difficult year and I quickly realized just how much I would also take away from this experience. As a mentor, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet so many new and amazing people from diverse backgrounds and help to foster a sense of community in a time when we all really needed one another to lean on. While I of course took my role of serving my community very seriously and always made sure I was available to talk, plan, and collaborate to plan safe virtual and in-person events, I think many of my mentees and the leadership team do not know how much they truly helped me through this difficult school year. Through making an effort to get to know me, the leadership team, and their peers, my mentees really made the LLC a huge support system for everyone in it and ensured even our off-campus members felt at home. By stopping into virtual office hours to ask for advice or catch up, joining virtual Netflix parties, participating in “Zoomba” together, or going ice skating on the outdoor rink, my mentees and the leadership team truly made this community very special. I will truly miss being a floor mentor and a member of the Leadership Learning Community but I know that I have grown so much as a person and leader through the experience and made incredible friends. With this, I hope that I have also positively impacted my mentees the way that they impacted me.
2021 Award Finalists
Abbey Engler
Business Connections House
Abbey (she/her/hers) is a second year student in the Business Connections Learning Community majoring in Business Management and Philosophy. She is a Floor Mentor in the BCLC, a Senator in Undergraduate Student Government, a Global Business Ambassador, and the Vice President of student organization, Diversability. She became a Floor Mentor to impart her resources and lessons learned at UConn to help the next generation of BCLC students become successful, whatever that means for them.
I am so honored to have been nominated as Floor Mentor of the Year. This year has presented itself with a variety of unique challenges that nobody was really prepared to face. They ranged from difficulties with course modality, to quarantines and sickness, and challenges connecting with peers in a safe way. Even I didn't always know how to handle these situations, but I am so proud of each of my mentees for all their hard work. I saw how many of them struggled to adjust to learning online, while also trying to build connections within the Learning Community. Some of my favorite moments as Floor Mentor were the online games we played, such as Among Us, but I think the most fulfilling moments were when my mentees and I would sit down and work through something together. It has been such an honor to be a part of building community in the Business Connections Learning Community this year and I am both happy and sad to turn over the baton to the next generation of Floor Mentors.
Erica Kareco
Business Connections House
Erica Kareco is currently a sophomore majoring in Finance in the School of Business. She has been part of the Business Connections Learning Community since she was a Freshman. Some of her favorite hobbies are traveling, hiking, and going to the beach.
To begin, I would first want to thank Amanda Spada and Polina Boily for providing me with the opportunity to become a Floor Mentor. During my Freshman year, they both helped me grow as a student and helped me develop professional skills I would use beyond the classroom. I would also want to thank Helena DeBald and Amanda Wilde for providing such great support throughout the entire year. Although this year was challenging, having the opportunity to help first year students transition into college during a difficult time has been very rewarding. Through various events, such as the Business Connections Learning Community Olympics, office hours, academic support presentations, and one-on-one meetings, I was able to create connections with so many motivated students that came from different backgrounds. During the year, I was able to strengthen my leadership and communication skills. My biggest takeaway from this experience was learning the importance of being understanding of others. Especially this year, everyone has been going through different challenges and struggles, so it is always important to be supportive to others as they navigate through difficult times. My favorite part about being a Floor Mentor was being able to watch my students grow throughout the year. Many of my mentees are still continuing to be part of the Business Connections Learning Community next year, and even a few of them will have leadership roles within the Learning Community.
Sean Roach
Leadership House
Sean is a junior double majoring in Urban and Community Studies and Psychological Sciences on a Fast Track Program to get his Masters in Public Administration. He is currently the floor mentor for the Leadership Learning Community and an avid member of the Learning Community Recruitment Committee. He has loved being a part of the Learning Community Programs and all of the amazing opportunities it has given him.
I am honored to accept the nomination for Floor Mentor of the Year. Over my past 3 years at UConn the Leadership Learning Community has been my home and I have been so thankful to be a leader in my community and make an impact on other students as a floor mentor for the past year and a half. The central concept which my leadership philosophy is based around is relationship building. I brought this into my role as mentor and worked to build a relationship with every single one of my mentees to be able to support them in any way I could.
Using this philosophy, I have been able to maintain and grow the strong sense of community based around leadership, service, and excellence. We worked to create multitudes of programming to make sure all of the students felt accepted into our family and were able to have a solid support group at UConn to explore all of the amazing opportunities it had to offer. Past just creating LLC wide events, individually I worked to make sure all members felt supported. From handling crying mentees in the middle of a crisis to resolving conflicts within the community, I took the time to give my LLC mentees the support and love they deserve.
Going into being a mentor during COVID-19, I knew it would be difficult to maintain the same amazing sense of community. I worked to intentionally reach out to others and use that collaborative sense of work to find the best ways to achieve this goal. I am so proud of all of the work our team has done this year to contribute to that goal. I am so thankful for all of the amazing opportunities and the home I have created in both the LLC and Learning Communities as a whole and it has been an honor being a leader in such an impactful organization.
