The role of mentorship in shaping college students' sense-making processes : a qualitative analysis of co-curricular experiences.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the way in which good mentorship relationships aid in the sense-making processes that shape students' development of a larger narrative. Through specific practices, mentors guided their mentees' sense-making processes by providing wisdom, alternate perspectives, and good questions, which caused their mentees to reframe their current circumstances, and a more cohesive narrative to take shape. Multiple means of data collection were used to inform and enrich my study, including two different means of gaining responses from my participants: open-ended surveys and interviews. This data was analyzed using the grounded theory method (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). In presenting my findings, I tried to maintain the uniqueness of each mentorship narrative while maintaining consistent themes than ran across all the narratives. I concluded this study by offering specific suggestions for mentors in Christian and secular institutions of higher education.