Last Thursday, our learning community arrived at Port Richmond High School. This was part of our experiential learning and our task was to mentor the students in the culinary arts program at the high school. At first, I was nervous. I didn’t know what that entailed. How can I mentor someone in the culinary arts when I wasn’t too familiar with the topic? Would my mentee even listen to my advice?

When we first arrived we were given a tour of the program and got a look inside the kitchens and the garden outside. I loved the whole aspect of the program and would have loved to partake in it if it had been available at my high school. When we were introduced to the class we were going to mentor, it was a bit awkward, but I realized they were just as nervous meeting us. I introduced myself to one of the girls at a table in the back. Her name was Maya. She was extremely sweet and I realized that we even had a few things in common. Both of us are picky eaters and we both enjoy baking. It was then I understood the purpose of the mentor-mentee relationship. We were both supposed to learn and grow from our experience together this semester. This Friday, my friends and I coordinated to meet with our mentees together. I can’t wait for the opportunity to get to know my mentee even better.