Brandon and Giovanni
Mentor
Brandon is an investment banker at Barclays Investment Bank. Brandon comes to iMentor with previousmentoring experience tutoring 5th and 6th grade students from an under-resourced community in Boston.He was recently transferred to Boston during the Lehman Brothers/Barclays acquisition. This would seemto create a problem for Brandon, making it hard for him to meet the iMentor program requirements as he isliving about 200 miles away from Giovanni. However, Brandon has not missed one email, he has attendedseveral events (travelling from Boston), and he has scheduled meetings with Giovanni throughout theremainder of school year.
Mentee
Giovanni is a senior at the Urban Assembly School for Careers in Sports. He is a hardworking vocalstudent and often exhibits leadership qualities. He is a goal-oriented student who sets a great example forthe underclassmen at Careers in Sports. Giovanni has applied to several colleges and is waiting to hearback. His dream is to work as a teacher.
About Their Match
Brandon and Giovanni are in a 1 ½ year match that began in January of 2008. They hit the ground runningwith the weekly emails, and they really connected when they met for the first time at the kickoff event.Giovanni was able to see from the beginning that Brandon was committed to the program and that hegenuinely cared for Giovanni. They have exchanged 70 emails during their match so far! In FebruaryBrandon was transferred from Lehman Brothers in New York to Barclays Investments in Boston,Massachusetts. The pair has handled his move as if nothing has changed. Brandon said in an email, “Ialso have some other news- my work is transferring me to Boston effective Feb. 1st. I will still try to attendall the events in NYC and whatnot, so it shouldn’t change that much. I am originally from there so it’s agood move for me; I will be closer to my family and favorite sports teams!” Giovanni wished him good luckand asked if he could attend the next event.
Why iMentor Works for Them
iMentor is great for them because the email component gives them the opportunity to discuss the writingprompt as well as catch up on their personal lives and love of baseball – despite the distance betweenthem. They are both sports enthusiasts, and often discuss recent scores and acquisitions. Giovanni is ahuge New York Yankees fan and Brandon is a Boston Red Sox fan, so they have a lot to talk about!Brandon really enjoys the structure of the events. He likes that each event targets a skill or idea with anactivity to engage the pairs in conversation about the event topic. Brandon also likes that the eventsinclude the presence of other pairs. He believes the balance between group and individual projects cancreate a comfort level for the students that allows pairs to share thoughts and ideas.
Impact of Their Match
Brandon believes that over the course of their match, Giovanni has truly grown into a young man. He wasable to provide assistance, support, and guidance during Giovanni’s college application process. Theyhave shared many personal experiences and different views with each other. They have learned a greatdeal about each other and their surrounding environment in doing so. Brandon believes that his worksituation gives him the opportunity to expose Giovanni to the idea of reaching for your goals despite theobstacles that may be in place. He believes Giovanni will understand that making sacrifices and takingadvantage of opportunities is a necessary step to reaching your goals.
