19 October marked the third edition of Kent Ridge Hall’s (KRH) mentorship program. This initiative was created back in 2018, with the aim of connecting KRH’s beloved alumni with current residents by engaging them as mentors.
In view of the COVID-19 situation and the ensuing restrictions, KRH decided to bring this event online and host it via Zoom. Five mentors were invited to share their various areas of expertise, careers and industries as well as their experience and journey during their stay in KRH. The event mirrored an online career fair, where mentors each had their own breakout room and residents were free to join and listen to whichever mentor they were keen to hear from.
It was a delightful evening, with familiar faces sharing their career experiences and reminiscing their times in KRH. Current residents were all ears listening to the intriguing stories and having genuine conversations with the mentors, some even keeping in touch with them after the event concluded.
One of the mentors, Ms Renee Leong (Arts and Social Sciences ’21) shared her thoughts on this year’s program, “I was honoured to be invited back as a mentor as I had attended one of these programs in the past and felt that it was really interesting! I believe that the Social Relations Unit's (SRU) mentorship program provides a wealth of insights and opportunities to network. It was quite a chill and well run event and I hope that the residents enjoyed it as much as I did!”
“It was tough having to conduct this program on Zoom as it removes the human interaction element prevalent in a mentorship program. However, we felt that it was an extremely beneficial and meaningful initiative for both the mentors and the residents. Thankfully, the turnout was good and the feedback was positive as well! Hopefully this will serve as a stepping stone for future alumni related initiatives for KRH!”, said Ms Pu Yu Qing, Vice-Chairperson of the SRU and Year 2 student from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Ultimately, this was a small initiative to help strengthen the bond between the different generations of Kent Ridgeans and the organisers are hopeful that the success of this program will inspire more mentors to volunteer their time back to KRH!
Submitted by Dr Rosalind Siah (Medicine ’16), Associate Director for Alumni Relations, Kent Ridge Hall Alumni and Mr Howe Lee,Year 4 Business, KRH Resident