Link Up, a student-run group that matches incoming freshman women with female mentors from the senior class, will debut at Dartmouth this fall. The program is a revival of Older and Wiser, a similar group for women that lasted until the 2004-2005 school year.
A group of 20 female members of the Class of 2007 expressed interest in revitalizing the mentoring program this year after realizing how difficult it can be for freshman women to get to know older students on campus.
Skye Zeller '07, one of the students in charge of planning Link Up, hopes that the program, which is not affiliated with the Greek system, will ease freshman women's transition into Dartmouth.
"It will be so helpful for the freshmen to be able to get an older person's point of view and to have someone around who's older," Zeller said. "The majority of rapes happen within the first term, and we're hoping that maybe Link Up will impact that in terms of having someone looking out for you when you go out."
The creators of Link Up have modified the aspects of Older and Wiser that resulted in the former program's failure. Two students were in charge of the previous program, an endeavor that demanded more time than they could commit. In the 2007-2008 school year, committees of 20 to 30 sophomores and juniors will manage specific parts of Link Up. These committees will divide responsibilities and ensure that women from all classes remain involved with the program throughout their Dartmouth careers.
Link Up mentors and mentees will be matched with two other mentoring pairs, in an expansion of the one-on-one relationships fostered by Older and Wiser. Meeting in both pairs and groups will allow freshmen to get to know more upper class women as well as other members of their class. Frances Vernon '10, who is involved with planning the group, said that having more than one mentor will make the "complete culture shock" of college easier to handle.
"I hope to see a lot of freshmen women be empowered by their senior mentors," Vernon said. "To have quite a few mentors who you can talk to is a great opportunity,"
(Vernon is a member of The Dartmouth staff.)
Zeller also stressed the benefits that Link Up has for the senior mentors.
"I'm trying to live vicariously through freshmen now, so it's really nice that seniors will be able to ask themselves what they wish they had known as freshmen," Zeller said.
Applications for juniors interested in mentoring are due at the end of this term. All applicants will be accepted, and mentors will go through an informal training session in the fall. Freshman women will be able to apply for a mentor upon their arrival on campus, and pairs will be matched according to similarities in geographic area, academic focus and extracurricular interests.
Sophomore and junior members of the Link Up committees will monitor the success of pairs, recruit mentors and mentees, form mentoring pairs, and shadow seniors. They will also attend group events, creating another opportunity for freshmen to get to know older students.
"We're basically trying to form a community of women on the campus," Zeller said. "Meeting older women is a really hard thing to do if you're not in a Greek house."
Link Up will host a kick-off dinner on May 16 to discuss the importance of the program and allow interested students to meet each other.
