In th
e midst of COVID-19, where a lack of connection is a common feeling among the chemical community, the CIC Kingston Local Section has been hard at work relaunching our network to bring chemists, chemical engineers, and chemical technologists back together (virtually for now). Our largest initiative, Bonds for Success: Kingston Chemical Sciences Mentorship Network launched in August 2020 and has been an overwhelming success with 75+ participants in our inaugural cohort. Bonds for Success: Kingston Chemical Sciences Mentorship Network is the first of its kind chemistry and chemical engineering specific mentorship program that is offered to all Kingston Local Section members as a collaboration between the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) Kingston Local Section, Queen’s University Graduate Chemistry Society (QGCS), and Queen’s University Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association (CEGSA).
In Bonds for Success, chemistry and chemical engineering graduate students are matched into a mentee/mentor pair through a detailed process with later career professionals, including Queen’s and Royal Military College faculty, industry members, startup founders, patent law experts, and more, based on career and professional development goals. On top of personalized matching, this program provides continuous guidance, support, and resources throughout the three-month duration in the form of workshops and guidelines for personal and professional development goal setting (also known as an Individual Development Plan) so that both mentors and mentees can get the most out of this experience.
The Bonds for Success Executive Team is ecstatic about our initial success! Plans are underway to open a second cohort in January 2020 and launch a supplementary peer mentorship program to provide graduate students the opportunity to learn mentorship skills and aid undergraduate students in their journey. We can already see a stronger sense of community and valuable transfer of knowledge between mentees and mentors as a result of this program. We cannot wait to see the impact as it continues to grow! If you have any questions about launching a mentorship program or want to get involved in Bonds for Success, please feel free to emails us at bondsforsuccess@gmail.com.
Bonds for Success was co-founded by Tina Tabrizizadeh (current Program Coordinator), Morgan Lehtinen (CIC Kingston Local Section Representative), Igor Cunha (QGCS Representative), and Connor Sanders (CEGSA Representative).