MENTOR EXPECTATIONS
Share your experience and knowledge of the medical field. The students are an open template. There is so much they can learn from you. It is about imparting legacy, passing down traditions and sharing struggles and knowledge. Many of our talented students will be first generation high school, college and yes - first generation medical school graduates. Helping the mentee navigate the road less traveled is as important as teaching them how to read an EKG or suture a laceration. Coach and inspire our children to dare to dream big. That is what mentoring is about!
You're A Doctor!
All of our students are selected due to their aspirations to become physicians. It is great if they can shadow you, but it is not required. Simply spending time with you and getting to know your journey while you get to learn there's, is the key to mentoring. Together you can determine what will meet the needs of the mentee and help them on their pathway to becoming a physician. Virtual visits are always welcome and encouraged. Google Meet, Zoom, Facetime are excellent options. We are working on building a Mentoring App to make engagement and management a breeze. Until we get there we will do it the old fashioned way.
For those students actively applying to medical school, critiquing AMCAS or supplemental applications or personal essays may be of value. You get to decide based on the needs of your mentee. For those applying to college you can do the same. The goal is to keep them motivated and directed towards achieving their goals to become a physician.
Agree to maintain your mentoring relationship for at least one year and for as long thereafter that it is beneficial, productive and feasible for all parties. We endeavor to remain in the lives of each mentee until they receive their white coats. That won’t always be possible, but that is the goal. We also know that try as we may, not all mentoring relationships are successful or a good match. If we find that the scholar and mentor are best paired with someone else, or either mentor or mentee requests a switch, we will do our best to accommodate.
Ultimately, we fully recognize that all of our mentors are volunteers so we appreciate the gift of your time. We want mentoring to be fun. Positively changing the trajectory of a student’s life is a joy. Please always let us know how we can make this experience better for you and the student. The benefit of becoming a mentor at I AM ABEL FOUNDATION is that both the student and the mentor are supported by a wonderful mentoring community. We also have active case management to best support our students. You therefore are not mentoring alone. Our networking events provide a wonderful opportunity for physicians, medical students and mentees alike to connect with a wide range of talent, expertise and interest.
A WORD ABOUT MEDICAL STUDENT MENTORS
Our Medical Student mentors are also huge blessings to our student mentees. We know that you won't be able to provide the same resources to our students but your expertise and mentoring are nonetheless incredibly valuable. You are also much closer to the process our students will soon embark upon. The most important key to your relationships is to share from the depth of your incredible experiences. In many cases, we will often pair our medical student mentors with our older students that will soon be completing applications and taking the MCAT
Time Commitment
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Dedicate 2-4 hours with your mentee every 1-2 months per your own availability (Skype, Cafe , Hospital, Office, Phone, etc). If mentoring high school students, it is the parent's responsibility to drop or pick up the student at the agreed upon location. You are not responsible for picking them up or arranging their transportation
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Agree to participate in key Mentor Mentee Networking events annually where students can enjoy time with you, the mentor, in the setting of fun group activities that promote overall bonding.
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Join us as time permits at any of our seminars that may interest you. The kids always love seeing the doctors drop by.
The Gala and the Mentor Mentee Match Ceremony
One of the most rewarding aspects of entering medical school is the white coat ceremony. Our Pinning Ceremony serves as a distinguished counterpart. Historically, this ceremony was held during our annual student gala and marked a significant milestone on the journey toward the coveted short white coat.
In 2024, we proudly hosted our Mentor Mentee Match Event at Northwestern University in late August, and it was truly an exceptional experience.
HOW ELSE MAY I BECOME INVOLVED?
We are in great need of physicians to help build and power our robust curriculums. Saturday Morning Professor and our New Small Mentoring Circles are a great way to use your clinical knowledge and nonclinical expertise to enhance our students' learning experience while extending their mentoring experience at I Am Abel Foundation.
Check out this video from I Am Abel Foundation’s Mentor Mentee Match Day Ceremony 2022 at the Cheney Mansion where where Board Member and Physician Mentor, Dr Audrey Tanksley, and 2020 Mentee, a senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, give 3 tips on hue to build an effective Mentee Mentor relationship!
Saturday Morning Professor
Saturday Morning Professor is the heart and soul of the foundation. It is the curriculum where our students learn the "language of medicine." The Saturday Morning Professor Lecture Series is a monthly seminar, occurring every third Saturday, taught by the best and brightest physicians in the Chicagoland area from major academic centers like Northwestern, Rush, University of Illinois and more.
They will immerse students in the field medicine through case-based learning which is highly effective and incredibly interesting. The learning is highly interactive and hands-on. Teaching is both didactic and in small group settings. This blended approach has been highly effective.
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Small Group Learning Facilitator
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Saturday Morning Professor Didactic Instructor
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Curriculum Development
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Mock Clinical Competition (Standardized Patient)
Please visit Urban Bridges Medical Mentoring Programs page for more details about our Curriculum
Small Mentoring Circles
Consider leading amazing small groups that help our future physicians focus on equally important areas of growth that are not clinical in focus. These Small Mentoring Circles will allow students to convene in small circles with a physician lead. Classes will last approximately 60-90 minutes and will be presented in a series anywhere from 1-4 sessions. Unlike Saturday Morning Professor, our Small Mentoring Circles are meant to provide students with an opportunity to explore meaningful areas of interest outside of clinical medicine. Our mentoring circles help our students expand the number of physician mentors in their circle and is an opportunity to sometimes just relax and focus on things that are important to our medical community beyond medicine. We welcome our mentors to submit Mentoring Circle Curriculum suggestions so we can increase the number of experiences available for our students. We currently are planning the following topics:
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Empathy Series: Where Compassion and Medicine Meet
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Correctional Health
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Study Skills
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Transcendental Meditation
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Self Care