In Search of the Career Compass

-- LEAP Mentor’s Day 2.0 Flashback--

2017-03-13 LEAP

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.

---Oprah Winfrey

Themed “Connection, Cultivation, Guidance, Growth”, LEAP Mentor’s Day 2.0 took place on February 26 at UCLA with an expected success. With a full-house attendance, 20 plus mentees matched with over 15 distinguished and caring LEAP mentors of diversified background to embark on a six-month inspiring and rewarding journey. Here is the flashback of some highlights:

Fireside Panel: Boost Up Your Career Through Effective Mentorship

Two LEAP mentors and two current LEAP mentees were present. Doug Schafer, VP of Engineering at DataFrameworks, and his mentee, Candice Li, UCLA 2017 Sharpe Fellow and a junior in Business Economics, and a LEAP team member shared how their mentorship had turned to a lasting friendship mutually benefited, in spite of their completely different background.

Kevin Gao, a Pepperdine master graduate, described his close mentorship with his mentor, Dr. Jun Wang, a Broadcom engineer. With weekly meetups and interactive conversation, their mentorship has prevented him from making many mistakes. To gain the most from mentorship, one has to “Keep communication, be a good listener and student”, he suggested.

Mentorathon: Ice-Breaking DIY Game

Mix-N-Match: Self-Pitch and Interview

An hour-long Mix-N-Match session provides each mentee applicant a realistic opportunity to pitch themselves to desired mentors.

Deliberation and Selection

As a result of interviews, evaluation, and deliberation, the following mentor/mentee pairs were matched to embark on the journey of enrichment and growth in the next 6 months:

- Ray Han: Younan Liang/Yaole Peng/Xu Liu

- John Zhuang: Lingjie Guo

- Bridge Carney: You Wang/Bob Zeliang Li

- Dr. Hui Yuan: Xiaoxuan Yang

- Dr. Yutao He: Yan Fang/Tianqi Wang/Zibing Huang

- Dr. Priscilla Zhao: Sarah Liu

- Doug Schafer: Xinyi Cui/Chunji Wang

- Dr. Yue Rong: Anna Zhang

- Dr. Liping Yan: Long Li/Dongmei Hu/Yuan Zhou

- Dereck Yang: Mia Pan/Daisong Zhang

Feedbacks from attendees:

Xiaoxun Y

Thank LEAP for organizing this event, which allowed me to communicate with teachers, meet with friends and receive constructive suggestions and patient guidance.

Daisong Z

The best point that distinguishes leap mentor's day to other events is that the mentors are easily accessible to the participants. In this way, the personal chemicals between the mentors and mentees are sensed truly and effectively on the site.

Younan Y

This activity is a good opportunity to discover myself and contribute to the future career with the mentor's help.

Huayuan H

The mentor program creates a bridge between mentors and young professionals, and the experience from excellent mentors guides us both life and career to a higher level. The friendship between mentors and young professionals has a great impact on our life.

Anna Z

I’m so glad to attend LEAP Mentor 2.0 Event. I’ve met mentors from various background and felt really fortunate to be able to hear their sharing regarding their professional experience, which also helped me lay a good foundation for my career plan.

Feedbacks from Mentors:

Dr. Hui Yuan

Sr. Power System Engineer/Project Manager, SoCal Edison