从学员到导师

在梅西山大学担任野马导师的约瑟琳·希尔德布兰德 ’25知道她对校园新生生活的直接影响。 

在约瑟琳成为导师之前，她自己其实也是一名学员。 As a freshman, she arrived on campus three weeks early to join Project Connect—an early-start program for incoming first-year students. 正是通过这个项目，她认识了劳伦·康拉德（Lauren Imhoff），后者成为了她大一那年的导师。 

“Lauren helped me work on my homesickness, financial stress, and finding pride in being a first-generation college student,” Joselyn explained. “Because she was so kind and helpful, I then felt inspired to do the same for others.” 

During Joselyn’s sophomore year, she made the decision to become a Mustang Mentor herself. 在此过程中，她发现了通过直接服务帮助他人的热情。 这一发现使她与社会学系的莱西·里特博士建立了联系，从那里开始，她的慈悲山之旅开始在课程和学术上形成。  

像许多学生一样，乔斯林进入大学时对自己的专业并不确定。 But at Mount Mercy, being undecided is often reframed as “exploring,” a perspective that made all the difference. 

“It relieved the pressure of choosing a major right away, especially when it felt like everyone else already had their path figured out,” she explained. 

约瑟夫琳最初决定主修政治学，因为她对通过立法和政府帮助人们很感兴趣。 She then discovered that she had a more driven passion to work directly with the population she’s serving, and was inspired to add sociology as a major, providing her further opportunity to learn from Dr. Ritter. 

“Dr. Ritter’s teaching style inspires me to be a better student," she shared. “She is thorough in her content, encourages effective notetaking, and always pushes her students to think outside of the box.” 

除了学术上的追求，乔斯林还在校园里担任过各种各样的领导角色。 她曾担任卓越学术中心（ACE）的写作导师，《华盛顿邮报》的特稿编辑 慈悲山时代她是Ge的社交媒体协调员N 1 (一个支持第一代大学生的俱乐部)。  

She’s also been the president of Gen 1, a Mustang Peer Mentor, a Project Connect Peer Mentor, and was a member of both the women’s golf and lacrosse teams.  

但她最有意义的参与是指导。  

“Being a Mustang Mentor is unlike any other leadership position on campus," she explained. “We’re not just tutors or counselors—we mentor students holistically, which means we focus on supporting them in every aspect of their life, not just academics.”

作为一名导师，约瑟琳每年都要通过每周的报到、计划社区活动和始终如一的鼓励，与一些新生建立联系。  

现在是她担任野马导师的第三年，乔斯林与她曾经指导过的两名团队成员一起工作。 Their group of seven members—all of whom were once mentees—is a testament to just how impactful the program truly is. 

除了她自己的导师，她也很幸运地通过Project Connect遇到了一位专业的导师。 她称赞学生成功项目主任詹妮弗·麦克纳布（Jennifer McNabb）是她的榜样，是她每天都可以敬仰的人。 

All of these experiences are deeply rooted in the environment that Joselyn was seeking when she first chose Mount Mercy—a place where she could be seen, heard, and supported.  

约瑟琳在得梅因由一位单亲母亲抚养长大，她一直在寻找一所能让她在离家不远的情况下独立成长的学校。 距离这里只有两小时路程的仁慈山达到了完美的平衡。  

对于现在和未来的野马，约瑟琳有一个简单的建议：  

“Get out of your dorm room and go to events with your friends,” she said. “There’s always something new to learn whether that’s through conversation, new experiences, or keeping an open mind.”  

Through service, mentorship, and deep community involvement, Joselyn Hildebrand has not only discovered her purpose at Mount Mercy—she’s helped others discover theirs, too.