Undergraduate Life

“It’s someone who has your back, as the phrase goes.” | David Harpp

When Jingjun Yu arrived in Montreal from China, she could count her entire Canadian support network on two fingers. When David Harpp started his university education, he didn’t, by his own admission, “know beans when the bag was open.” Something as simple as a friendly ear can make all the difference in smoothing the transitions of those early undergraduate years.

Two things persuaded Jingjun Yu to leave her home in Jiaxing, a city of more than 4 million people near Shanghai: McGill’s reputation in the field of health-related studies, and Montreal’s reputation as an exciting, multicultural city. She knew it was the right move, but settling into a new country isn’t always easy. So, when a classmate mentioned that the Office of the Dean of Students was piloting a Staff-Student Mentoring Program, Yu jumped aboard. Her mentor turned out to be the program’s founder, David Harpp.

Harpp came up with the idea because he recognized himself in many of his undergrad students. He initially saw the program as pairing students with professors, but has been surprised by the interest of non-academic McGill staff, who currently account for 61 of the 81 mentors. Harpp himself has six mentees, including Jingjun Yu, and stresses that just a little bit of time can make a big difference. A few times a year, Harpp and Yu get together to talk. Not about specific course work–she’s a Nutritional Science student at the Macdonald campus, he’s a Chemistry professor downtown, an intentional mismatch to encourage wider interactions–but about little things. Some days, Yu asks for a few tips to fine-tune her English skills. Other days, she has questions about Montreal. Yu says it all adds up.  “It’s not that we talk for all that long,” she says, “but it really makes a difference.”

“I think of it as discovering you’ve got an aunt or an uncle that you didn’t know you had in Montreal,” says Harpp. “It’s someone who has your back, as the phrase goes. I get a lot out of it, too: These are smart, savvy kids.”

The Staff-Student Mentoring Program is just one of the ways that McGill is working to more actively engage with our students:

In 2011, McGill’s new Off-Campus Fellow Program worked to give students living off-campus the same sense of community enjoyed by students living in Residences. Participants enjoyed sessions focused on exploring Montreal, getting through the first week at McGill and engaging with their new communities.

McGill’s newest residence, La Citadelle, is welcoming 280 students in the fall of 2012.

Buoyed by early success, the In-Residence Academic Advising pilot program will continue through 2012, with the goal of instituting a permanent program in the near future.

McGill and the Lester B. Pearson School Board have partnered to create opportunities for students from underrepresented groups to engage with McGill students with the aim to inspire them to pursue studies at the University. In turn, the program allows our participating students to engage in enriching community-based learning.