My relationship with my mentee has evolved a lot. At first I could tell she was more shy in talking to me and the conversation was more formal, but as we continued to meet and talk more about our own activites, interests, and outside of school plans, we got a lot more closer and it became very natural for us to communicate.

Mentoring has shaped my expectations about mentoring because at first I thought I would be constantly needed for every aspect, but in reality everyone is different and need different things from you, whether that is a connection, guidance, or just a friend to talk to. Also some people are great with change and adapting so your mentoring may more be of moral support than giving advice. However, that fact was also the biggest challenge I had to face because I really felt like I wanted to do more in my mentoring and I wasn't really helping my mentee as much as I felt like I "should've" because she is a person that has everything planned and figured out. She also has healthy habits and is doing really well in school. Thus, I felt like I really wasn't helping her a lot with mentoring and it was really hard for me to overcome that feeling. However, I then started to realize that just my supportive energy, being there for her, and a connection was what she needed and it helped her just talking about how things were going. Therefore, I realized that not everyone is going to need the same things from their mentor and the job of a mentor is to meet the mentee at where they are at and be supportive of them and try to lead them to success, which looks different for everyone.