Alumni

Virgil Initiative

MISSION STATEMENT
The Virgil Initiative is a voluntary mentorship program that pairs interested students with established alumni to help ease the sometimes difficult transition from a student’s life at the college towards their personal goals or potential career paths, while expanding and strengthening the college community as a whole.

Given the unique nature of the St. John’s program, and the inherently insular quality of life on the two campuses, many students have found the transition to meaningful and satisfying work or life in the world at large to be both perplexing and difficult.  The Virgil Initiative was established to help facilitate that transition by extending to students the benefit of alumni experience in having successfully navigated the shift from student life to graduate school or career paths in the outside world.  Interested juniors are paired with alumni for one-to-one mentoring discussions, follow up telephone and e-mail contact, and on-call advice as needed.

When students apply to the program they are invited, but by no means required, to denote a field of work or career that might be of interest to them.  While an effort is made to pair students with an alumni with experience in that specified field, such pairings are not always possible, nor is it the intent of The Virgil Initiative to direct students into a particular career path.  Rather, it is a general mentorship program designed to provide a supportive and understanding friend who can not only offer the student the benefits of their particular experiences, but also help guide the student towards the resources currently available both within the college, and in the greater St. John’s alumni community.

Student & Mentor Feedback
These are some of the sample responses from the 27 students, and their mentors, currently involved in the program to their initial one on one meetings. (The names, and in some cases, the professions have been deleted to maintain the privacy of the responders).

STUDENT RESPONSES
“I can not thank you enough for establishing the Virgil Initiative program!  I met this afternoon with ____ and had a most positive experience talking with her about the hopes, concerns and dreams that come with hoping to enter a career after St. John's.  It was wonderful to not only have someone to talk to about my future, but for that person to be a Johnnie, and one so easy to talk to as ____!  Thank you for your insight into the concerns of junior Johnnies who have many questions about the "real world".  Your program  has resulted today in a fabulous connection and friendship and I feel I have already begun to reap its benefits.”

“The lunch with ____ was great.  It was wonderful to hear his story of how he left St. John's and found his way into (his career).  Talking with him reminded me of things that, previous to starting St. John's, were my main interests.  After our conversation I wandered around the internet and found some internships for the summer.  Now I'm applying for a summer internship for backcountry trail work and environmental work.  I definitely think that our conversation got me started thinking about what I need to want to do and what I need to do to be able to pursue it.  I don't know how helpful a mentor will be for me besides giving that kick in the butt I needed, but for others who are paired up well, I think the advice they could offer would be helpful.  I think the Virgil program is one that should be continued.  Thank you for testing it out on us.”

“Yes, I was able to meet with ____, and  it was a very pleasant experience. I loved his enthusiasm about the Virgil program and about being able to meet with students like me. He made me feel comfortable and understood. I am truly excited to be participating in this program, and ____ looks like someone I could talk to about so many things that interest or concern me. So I will try and keep in touch with him from now on. Thank you so much for your and Mr. Krause's efforts in making this possible.”

“A successful arrangement indeed!  Both ____ and her friend ____ met with ____ and I for a full two and a half hours.  The meeting itself went well.  ____ proved to be the invaluable source of information that I had hoped.  His story of entering (his profession) and his successful career thereafter was both inspiring and educational.  Though ____ has pursued a career path that doesn't interest me personally, the account of her post St.John's life was no less valuable.  To be honest, I was a little anxious about our first meeting, but was nicely surprised to find both ____ and ____ extremely approachable and 'down to earth'.  Besides the practical advise that I got out of the meeting, I also took away a newfound confidence that my education here at the college is preparing me to do far more than I had ever expected, that I can do a lot more than I thought I could.  Both ____ and ____ enthusiastically offered to maintain communication in any way preferable to us.  Though ____ is a very busy man, he suggested that any question/concerns we might have could be relayed to him via ____.  I will most certainly take them up on the offer and very much look forward to another meeting. I can't really think of any suggestions for the program.  Its success seems to me determined by the connection you make with your mentor(s).  As I said,my mentors were very approachable and extremely helpful on all accounts. If you have any particular questions please feel free to email me.  Thanks a million for organizing this great program.”

“I did have a meeting with my mentor, ____.  It was very productive.  I know what I need to be doing right now, and what I will need to be doing next.  We have a loose arrangement where I can contact him when I am ready to go to the next step and would like more advice/insight.  The meeting was fairly brief--an hour to an hour and a half--and an outside observer might have said that it was uneventful in the big picture of my life and my future, but I didn't need someone to do everything for me.  Sometimes a little nudge is enough to get the ball rolling.  I have had some questions answered and have a little more clarity.  It was very helpful.”

“I found my meeting with ____ to be very helpful, although I have a hard time pinning down exactly what was helpful about it.  He had some good advice about preparing for the graduate program I want to go into and helped me think through the pros and cons of going to graduate school right after St John's or waiting a year or two.  I haven't decided on anything for sure, but I have a better idea of which decisions I should be thinking about.  I wish I had asked ____ more questions about himself, and about how he got where he is from St. John's, and I plan to at our next meeting.  I think this is a great program. Thanks.”

“Thank you again for organizing the whole Virgil Initiative.  I met with ____ and had a very full meeting, as I describe in my thank you letter to her. I was very interested in how ____ has integrated ideas she got from St John's into her career and the way she leads her business.  She was very helpful, especially with ideas on time and task management.  I intend to go to grad school in philosophy, and ____ mentioned that she could email me a list of alumni who had pursued philosophy.  It will be interesting for me to correspond with other Johnnies who have had experience in what I would like to do. I am looking forward to more contact with ____, and thank you again for setting up the program and making it possible for us to meet.”

“Thank You for organizing the Virgil Mentor program. It was interesting and enjoyable to talk with an alumni. However I had hoped to speak to someone who had made the move to science after St. John's because that is where my interest lies and I am unsure of how this education is preparing me for that. This is not intended to disrespect any other vocation and it is true that I might get involved in who knows what in my future and so this meeting was not unhelpful but it also was not what I was expecting. I do think that in one form or another this program should be continued. It is nice to, as a student, to have some contact with board members. Thank you again.”

MENTOR RESPONSES
“It was fabulous!  These women are charming, fun, funny and happy!  Amazing!  They need signifigant  help re the logistics of getting into law school, but mostly just want to know that St. John’s hasn’t made that impossible and that, indeed, it leaves them well-suited for it.  Both ____ and ____ were extraordinarily enthusiastic about the Virgil program and I now certainly am a true believer!  Thanks for making this happen!”

“I think it went very well and I enjoyed lunch with my two students and think that they found it helpful.  They were enthusiastic about the mere existence of such a program but it also pointed out to me how important helping them transition really is and how limited this has been in the past.  I will be sending them a note but we have exchanged e-mails and I will plan to be available to them as they proceed through this next year.  It helped a lot that I was an alum.”

“I met with ____ for breakfast Friday morning and with ____ for coffee Saturday afternoon.  Both are real nice kids (boy did they make me feel like the “wise old man”.)  They both had questions about going to law school.  However, they also spent a lot of time asking things like “Do you ever read the Great Books now that you’ve been out?”, “ How did going to the College affect your life?”  In that regard you and Tom were right on: they do have concerns about life after the college.  All in all, I think I got off to a really good start with both of them.  I told them that I would be back in July and January for BVG meetings and we have each other’s contact info.  I am writing notes to them to encourage them-- again-- to feel free to contact me with questions or just to talk.  I am planning on meeting ____ in July.  He lives in Santa Fe.  I will try to contact ____ during the summer when I travel to New York City-- her home town.  Thanks to you and Tom for getting all this in motion.”

“(My student), ____ did meet with me.  We talked for almost 2 hours. She was gracious and grateful for the time and talk.  Our conversation ranged from personal time management techniques to the job market to the possibilities for grad school.  It was wonderful to get to know her.  We decided to stay in touch via email.  I'll be sending her a note monthly to check in and be sure that she's keeping her promises to herself.  All in all, I think the contact was great.  Even if it never leads to anything else, I think it was well worth the time together.  Thank you!!”

"____ and I had a terrific visit with my mentees (is that a word?) in January.  Both gentlemen seem like typical St. John's students:  bright, thoughtful, full of questions and ideas.  Since they both have an interest in (my friend’s profession), I think ____ really was the star of the show.  Though they asked the typical questions of an alumni (e.g. is there really life after St. John's.)  I got a lovely email from one of them.  Overall it  seems like a very satisfactory start, from both perspectives, and I'll look forward to hearing more from them as they get through essays and orals, and have a bit of time to think."