The WSU Women’s Center believes it is helpful for women in college to find mentors to help them over the hurdles they may run into. The Women’s Center highlighted the importance of female-to-female mentoring with their “Speed Femtoring” event.
Women of different professions sat down and mentored attendees in a speed dating fashion at The Women’s Center event on Feb. 20.
“We wanted to have an opportunity to have fem-identifying students meet with ‘femtors’ so that you can talk about what you want to do in your specific plan of work,” Haylee Oyler, an organizer of the event, said.
The event organizers encouraged attendees to ask the ‘femtors,’ or female mentors, questions on a variety of topics, such as what kind of skills to develop and job application advice.
The idea came from a previous semester’s event, said Alex Dutro-Maeda, the program specialist for the Women’s Center.
Dutro-Maeda said that a previous “Feminism for All” event was about bringing women from different backgrounds to talk about how to enact feminist values and leadership in different career paths. Attendees at the “Feminism for All” event had expressed interest in attending a similar event on a more personal level.
Attendees received information about getting through school and their future careers.
Rieneke Holman, a program director and professor at the Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing, mentioned that events such as this would have been beneficial for her when she was starting college. Holman was a first generation student who had to figure her way through college out on her own.
“If somebody else had been there to help, I think that would have been great,” Holman said.
Many of the students in attendance found the event to be helpful. Several felt reassured in their career path after meeting with the ‘femtors.’
“I feel comfort in finding someone that had gone through the same things that I am planning on going through, so they can teach me how they did it and make my career easier,” Liz Homez, president of the Latinos in Action program, said.
Sophia Pettit, a student in attendance, mentioned she believes events such as this are useful for networking and building connections, and she now knows more about how to go about her career path and grad school.
“[I have] some reassurance that there are people on my side and people who want to help me,” Pettit said.
For more information on the Women’s Center and their events, visit https://www.weber.edu/womenscenter.
