Canoe Mentor: College Life and Diagonal Networking

Making lasting friendships is one of the key advantages of being a member of a college like Champlain. I think for most students entering Trent, that desire to make new friends is a top priority. And the peer-to-peer community friendships you'll form in university can range from familiar acquaintances to deep friendships, from intimate but fleeting encounters to lifelong partnership.

If peer friendships were the only community opportunity afforded, then Trent and Champlain would be little different from the dormitories or housing you'll find on any campus. But Champlain and the colleges at Trent offer you more. Life in the college means the opportunity to develop learning relationships with professors, teachers, staff, administrators, _and_ other students. All of those relationships are a valuable part of your community life here--and have potential value for you throughout your life.

You know you need mentors. But you'd feel weird about contacting a professor to say, "Hello, I'm looking for a good mentor. Would you be mine?" Any relationship that begins with such linear intentional purpose is always going to feel awkward.

Most of us feel much better when relationships begin in a more organic way. The college can provide that opportunity; the college is an environment for diagonal networking. Seeing your profs and staff in the Great Hall or the Seasoned Spoon at lunch, or attending a workshop or college talk, or even just passing each other in the quad provides a kind of familiarity from which an organic mentoring relationship might grow.

Likewise, working together on college initiatives or extra-curricular activities builds respect and substantial knowledge. Respect and actual knowledge leads to trust. Essentially, that's what networking is: not just adding friends to your Facebook page, but building trusting lines of communication with people. Those lines of trust might lead to: more friendships, business partnerships, employment opportunities, problem solving--and happiness in life.

The canoe is a perfect example of building trust in an utterly Canadian way. We might get into the boat together simply for the purpose of getting to the opposite shore (or maybe just for having some fun on the water). But in the canoe, we're going to learn enough about each other to develop some respect, knowledge, and trust--and that's how we actually make it to the other side.

Wanna go out in the canoe with me? Every Thursday(weather-permitting) from 4 to 6 will be Champlain Tuesday on the Water. Meet at the beach.