{"id":14982,"date":"2024-01-31T19:08:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/?p=14982"},"modified":"2024-02-01T01:00:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T01:00:47","slug":"mentorship-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/mentorship-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentorship Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"14982\" class=\"elementor elementor-14982\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-0f65b03 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"0f65b03\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-bf144bc\" data-id=\"bf144bc\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-220c75f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"220c75f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.21.0 - 30-04-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-style: italic; font-size: 14px;\">by Laura Arnett (Laura is the Business Development Director for Flynn Wright, a Midwest-based advertising agency with clients nationwide. With 5 years of experience in the advertising industry and 10 years in property management prior to that, Laura is well-versed in how important the customer experience is no matter the industry. Her varying roles and background have forged a deep passion for her in the areas of team development, relationship building, and community engagement. Community involvement is very important to Laura, and she actively participates in volunteer opportunities with the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Downtown Sioux Falls, as an Executive Committee member with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and as a board member for the National Kidney Foundation and Employment Disability Resources.)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9e78bf7 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9e78bf7\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-760fb8f\" data-id=\"760fb8f\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-23fb386 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"23fb386\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>As we wrap up National Mentorship Awareness Month, I find myself reflecting on my own mentorship\u00a0journey and the incredible impact that was made by those willing to invest in my success as a person\u00a0and professional. I think it\u2019s important to highlight that mentors can be found in unconventional or\u00a0unexpected ways (and at any stage of life!), with many who might not even consider themselves to be\u00a0mentors at all. There is an incredible need in our community today for youth mentors with over 400\u00a0students still in need of mentors in Sioux Falls alone, but there is very little discussion surrounding<br \/>mentorship as a person enters adulthood and the professional workforce. Youth mentoring provides an\u00a0undeniable foundation for the next generation as they are navigating what, for some, is the hardest time\u00a0of their lives with little to no support in their family dynamic through no fault of their own. These\u00a0dynamics should never be looked down upon or with a judgmental eye as so many are doing everything\u00a0they can to survive and provide for their families in an economy that isn\u2019t getting any easier. Mentorship\u00a0helps bridge the gap between wanting the best and most for our youth and not having enough time to\u00a0achieve that. They say raising kids takes a village, and mentorship is certainly a vital component of that<br \/>village for this community, and we are so blessed for the abundance of resources through non-profits\u00a0and volunteers to make that happen every day for our kids.<\/p><p>On this final day of Mentorship Month, I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t give thanks and recognition to two\u00a0individuals I credit with much of my personal and professional development. These two incredible\u00a0people poured into me without any expectation of reciprocity, and they are due every level of\u00a0appreciation I can give because I know without a doubt, I would not be who I am today if not for them.<\/p><p>Neither of these people know I am writing this article about them, so I will change their names to\u00a0protect anonymity. I will call them Jane and John.<\/p><p>Jane is the first person I encountered in my professional career who was more than just a coworker. I\u00a0had stepped into a job at a new company that was maybe slightly above my experience level at that\u00a0time. I had a big title and far more employees than ever before while I was still somewhat young myself\u00a0both in age and overall experience. I had worked in that specific industry for a few years already, but I\u00a0still had so much to learn while constantly feeling the pressure of a role that was going to be a challenge\u00a0for me. Jane engaged with me very early in my tenure to provide support and guidance that was far<br \/>outside her roles and responsibilities at the company. She quickly became someone I could trust and\u00a0confide in while also giving me a healthy dose of reality when I needed it. To this day, I admire her ability\u00a0to help guide me to a lesson learned without being \u201cpreachy\u201d and provide me with the opportunity to\u00a0see where my personal biases or inexperience were rearing their ugly heads in an approachable way. I\u00a0was, admittedly, very stubborn and tried to handle everything myself much more than I do today\u00a0(although I know those qualities are still there), but Jane knew how to tap into those traits in an way<br \/>that helped me grow and evolve as a person and as someone who had high aspirations for herself and\u00a0her staff. She helped me see the world in a much different light than I\u2019d ever considered before all the\u00a0while pushing me to always be better as a person, a boss, a coworker and a mom. She helped me see\u00a0the value in the \u201clittle things\u201d for my staff like recognition, support and guidance that I would have\u00a0written off as unnecessary and I carry those lessons with me to this day. She has since moved to another\u00a0state (twice!) and we haven\u2019t spoken in a few years, but I will never forget or deny the unmistakable\u00a0change she made in my life for the better.<\/p><p>John is someone who became an unexpected mentor for me and I can guarantee he doesn\u2019t view\u00a0himself that way at all. He was an immediate friend on my first day at a new job due to many shared\u00a0interests between us even though we were not in the same department or even the same age bracket.\u00a0John and I quickly formed a fast friendship that I still cherish to this day, but what John probably doesn\u2019t\u00a0know is how much he truly impacted my life at a critical point in time. I had been in a career that\u00a0spanned nearly a decade with many levels of success, but I started to feel like maybe this wasn\u2019t what I\u00a0wanted to do forever. That maybe this career that I had worked so hard for and sacrificed so much for,\u00a0wasn\u2019t paying off in the way I hoped it would, and that was a TERRIFYING feeling. What made it worse is\u00a0that I had no idea what an alternative career could even look like, let alone where to even start all the\u00a0while wondering if everything I had done the past ten years was all a waste. John was the first person to\u00a0say \u201chow can I help?\u201d He immediately started working his connections to find opportunities for me,\u00a0which provided no benefit to him. He was tireless in his pursuit of helping me find my next path, which\u00a0did come fairly quickly in the form of a company I had never heard of but turned out to be owned by\u00a0two of the greatest people I\u2019ve come to value in my life. John went to bat for me with these owners, put\u00a0his own reputation on the line by backing me for a job I had no experience in and convinced them to\u00a0give me a chance. This path was one of the most difficult things I have ever done and I questioned so\u00a0many days if I had made another mistake trying to start all over in my mid-30s. But, John (along with so<br \/>many others) was a constant wave of support and guidance through it all which helped me push through\u00a0to eventual success. That path has now led to so many incredible, invaluable experiences, opportunities\u00a0and relationships that I would NEVER have known if John hadn\u2019t put himself out there to provide help\u00a0and mentorship when I needed it most.<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 19.8px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;\">If you are not currently a mentor and would like to be more involved, I urge you to reach out to the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 19.8px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;\">Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative where they can connect you with organizations who need mentors.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 19.8px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.helplinecenter.org\/volunteer-connections\/sioux52\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.helplinecenter.org\/volunteer-connections\/sioux52\/<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Laura Arnett (Laura is the Business Development Director for Flynn Wright, a Midwest-based advertising agency with clients nationwide. With 5 years of experience in the advertising industry and 10 years in property management prior to that, Laura is well-versed in how important the customer experience is no matter the industry. Her varying roles and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14982"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14996,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982\/revisions\/14996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edrsd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}