{"id":23846,"date":"2025-01-09T10:13:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/?p=23846"},"modified":"2025-01-13T10:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:32:40","slug":"blog-terrier-mentorship-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/2025\/01\/09\/blog-terrier-mentorship-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrier mentorship: Life-changing career connections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Michael Ouellette | Published January 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

In support of National Mentoring Month, we\u2019re shining a spotlight on stories of Terriers helping Terriers through mentoring and professional networking. If you want to mentor a Terrier, volunteer on BU Connects<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"Hannah<\/p>\n

Kindness in connection: Hannah Goodman and Kassandra Round<\/h3>\n

As a senior psychology major whose college experience was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Hannah Goodman (CAS\u201922)<\/strong> struggled to make connections and get interviews during her final semester at BU. Hannah was pursuing a job in psychological research in Boston, but she wasn\u2019t making much progress relying on traditional online platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed. Turning to the BU Connects member directory<\/a>, Hannah found several alums in her field and sent them messages asking for career guidance. Hannah quickly heard back from a few alums, including Kassandra Round (CAS\u201919)<\/strong>, who worked for Cambridge Health Alliance\u2019s Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC)<\/a>, a research, training, and clinical center, working to integrate evidence-based mindfulness and compassion practices into healthcare settings.<\/p>\n

During their first call, Kassandra told Hannah that CMC had a few job openings and offered to be a referral. Hannah applied for a research coordinator position at the center, and through Kassandra\u2019s continued help, was able to get an interview. Hannah was immediately encouraged by the sense of care and compassion she felt during the interview, and when she was offered the job after three rounds of meetings, she knew it would be the right field and work environment for her to start her career. Kassandra says she initially joined BU Connects to learn from and help others in the BU community\u2014especially students facing big life decisions\u2014but she never expected that her simple act of kindness would have such a significant impact on a fellow Terrier.<\/p>\n

Over the past two years at CMC, Hannah worked on multiple research studies, presented posters at conferences, and even became second author on a primary research paper that was recently accepted to the renowned Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em> (JAMA). Now applying to PhD programs in clinical psychology, Hannah says that whatever city she lands in next, one of her first priorities will be connecting with local BU alumni at regional events and online. \u201cConnections are what can make you progress in your field,\u201d she adds. Hannah advises against listening to the voice in your head that questions why someone would want to talk to you. When you have that shared BU background, \u201cjust reach out,\u201d she says. Now an alum, Hannah says that if a student approaches her looking for career advice, she\u2019ll be excited to connect.<\/p>\n

\"Brianna<\/p>\n

Empowering F1RSTS: Brianna Bourne and JJ Davis<\/h3>\n

As a first-generation student studying psychology and classical civilization, Brianna Bourne (CAS\u201924)<\/strong>, didn\u2019t know what to expect of life after graduation. So when she heard about Terrier F1RSTS<\/a>, a mentoring program sponsored by the Newbury Center<\/a> and the Alumni Association designed specifically to connect first-generation students with alumni, she decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n

Soon after Brianna signed up for the Terrier F1RSTS on BU Connects, she matched with JJ Davis (CAS\u201916)<\/strong>, a young alum who works as a protective intelligence analyst. Even though their career backgrounds didn\u2019t have much in common, JJ still offered vital guidance to Brianna during a transitional moment in her life. Brianna says that she and JJ talked about \u201cthe things that people don\u2019t normally talk about\u2014like how it is going back home after living by yourself for four years.\u201d JJ also gave her practical advice on her post-grad path, her personal finances, pros and cons of various graduate school programs, and the impact Brianna\u2019s choices might have on both her and her family. Despite being in different time zones, Brianna says that JJ was extremely responsive, and she appreciated his ability to check in on her progress but also to let her make her own decisions.<\/p>\n

JJ is no stranger to giving back to students, having participated in several mentoring and job shadowing programs on BU Connects. He points out that in our society people often think their lives are unique, but BU students and alumni have so much in common than they realize\u2014even if they\u2019re from different majors or eras. By connecting with someone having a similar experience, you can make a huge impact. Even more simply, he says, \u201cIt feels good to help somebody out.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Brianna, alumni mentors are incredibly valuable because they understand the experience and the challenges that current students might have at BU. Her suggestion for alumni who are interested in becoming mentors: \u201cBe the resource that you wish that you had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connect with a Terrier<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stories of alumni helping students find jobs and plan their next steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20583,"featured_media":23856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,5],"tags":[95,173,152,595,154],"featured_img":"\/alumni\/files\/2025\/01\/Handshake-800x600.png","agg_excerpt":"Stories of alumni helping students find jobs and plan their next steps.","agg_title":"Terrier mentorship: Career connections","media_icon":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20583"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23846"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23886,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23846\/revisions\/23886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}