On mentorship: Becky Chávez and Mark Harben

“Mentorship leads to equity, not only at our colleges and universities, but also later on in our workplaces, and in our communities as a whole.”

Back in January on our monthly radio show, we kicked of the year with a discussion about mentorship in Boulder County. Since then, we caught up with Rebecca “Becky” Chávez – secretary of the Community Foundation’s board of trustees, an alumna of Leadership Fellows Boulder County, and director of admissions and outreach at Front Range Community College (FRCC) – and her husband, Mark Harben, FRCC director of advising, retention, and testing. For the FRCC’s Boulder County campus, the couple focuses on the assets, not the deficits, that Latinx* students bring to the college experience.

“The LEADS [Latinx Excellence, Achievement, and Development Scholars] program is a development series for Latinx students on campus, and a big part of that is mentorship,” says Becky. “With the help of a mentor, participating students learn to see their culture and experiences as assets to leadership development, and as a solid foundation for leadership.”

Continues Becky, “Our volunteer mentors are professionals at Front Range or from our community, including people who have supported our program in the past. Mentors help our students – some of which are first-generation college students – with both their professional and personal goals.”

Since 2013, the program has grown from six students in its first cohort to 18 students, currently; LEADS comprises some 48 alumni to date.

“As a mentor, it’s humbling and amazing to be a small part of someone’s development as a person,” says Mark. “Developing relationships and believing in our students provides a safe place for them to be vulnerable, to ask questions, and to explore their options – options they may never have otherwise considered.”

Agrees Becky, “I’m the result of a mentoring program at Colorado State University. My mentor connected me to resources that I wouldn’t have thought to ask about. My mentor saw things in me that I didn’t see myself.

“For first-generation students, especially, having mentors and role models to help them navigate the culture shock and other barriers of a predominately white campus is crucial. Perhaps most important, mentors and allies support the whole student.”

She adds, “Mentorship leads to equity, not only at our colleges and universities, but also later on in our workplaces, and in our communities as a whole.”

Indeed, in addition to helping establish the LEADS program – integrating the leadership principles set forth in The Power of Latino Leadership: Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution by Colorado-based author Juana Bordas – Becky has also collaborated with other student services managers to develop additional bilingual outreach positions, and developed a more effective student ambassador and peer mentorship program. She also co-chaired the FRCC-BCC Diversity Committee, and participated in the FRCC’s college-wide leadership program, Roadmap to Achievement.

Concludes Mark, “Mentoring is very important, but it’s not something that requires a lot of training or even a degree … and you can do it with minimal energy. Even just meeting someone for lunch every six months can make a big difference in establishing trust. And it’s incredibly rewarding.”