Sammy Mentor
Iremember well back then in 8th grade when I had no clue about thecareer path I would have chosen. I went to school, but the fact thatI was clueless tormented me from inside. My age mates had alreadyfigured out what they wanted to be, even if they never pursued theirdreams later on. Our teachers could tell us how 8th grade was adefining moment of our lives, and every decision we made would count.
Icould see how my colleagues were excited, but I seemed to be in limbountil I went to high school and met a friend who was an 11th-gradestudent. How we meet is rather miraculous, I must say, I attendedthose career talks programs held at the school. In the middle of thetalk, I decided to go to the washroom, while taking my time in one ofthe toilets I started to talk to myself. These were exactly my words,“what a looser am in high school, and I can’t make a definitechoice on the career path that I want, damn it.” I heard a voicesay “Information Technology (IT).”
Fora moment, I thought it was a divine intervention until the toilet wasflushed, and the person reinforced his answer “why not choose IT.”I was still there wondering who that person was, that had taken akeen interest in my problem. Though reluctantly, I got out of thetoilet door and found him standing in the hands’ drier. He smiledand greeted me while I just stood there without knowing how I shouldrespond to all that. Little did I know that he was an angel who wouldchange my perception of life and give me a clear direction in thecareer that I would venture into and come to adore.
Somehowhe knew I was a 9th-grade student, to make the conversationinteractive he told me his name was Sam, an 11thgrade student. He offered that we should get back to the career talk,perhaps I might hear something that might intrigue me. I followedhim, and we sat in a new location closer to the people giving careerlectures. He gave me a pen to write anything I found interestingabout the talk. All this time I was wondering what his intentionswere, is he for real or is he making an advance towards me. The talkslasted for about an hour, all this time I didn’t write anything,but I drew a laptop which seemed to be disseminating information toother regional centers.
Herequested for the paper to see what important points I had captured.I was ashamed to give him the paper, but he insisted I went ahead andgave him the paper. After seeing the paper, his response was “thisis it.” I was surprised because that is not the response I thoughtI would receive. That day he decided we should have lunch together Iliked the idea as I would be around an 11th-grade student. All thistime he was kind and generous and when he noticed I wasuncomfortable, he would say something that would make me laugh andshift my attention.
Hestarted to tell me about his personal life still I found it awkward,but later I came to realize he meant no harm he was trying to be agood friend. I could notice how he loved to talk about IT being thegame changer in the business market. After lunch was over, we partedways after exchanging our contacts. Sam was almost 5’2 ft. tallwith curled hair and he like casual clothes a lot. I contemplated onthe issues Sam told me about IT, and I was fascinated.
Thefollowing day I decided to go and thank him. When I met him that day,he took me to an IT club where students could interact and discussvarious issues that they felt were challenging in our society.Remember those are high school guys who are so focused. Back in mymind, I nicknamed Sam “the geek”. How he could think and answerquestions, was way above an 11th-grade student. As every day passed,he became this interesting person in my life that I always wanted tobe with. Though our friendship was not that pronounced due to gradeand age difference, I liked it.
Whilehe was a senior, he guided me on the University, I should choose tomake the best out of it in IT, being here today is his effort. Hehas already been employed, but he hasn’t lost touch with me.Recently he gave me a tour of his company showing me how big dataapplication technology is being used to make priceless decisions insupply chains and logistics management. He was jovial thatInformation Technology has changed the way people do their business.It was his dream, and it had come true on top of being a supervisorof data analytics in Apple organization, New York branch. I wonderedhow such a young gentleman could be a data analytics supervisor ofsuch a great company.
Conclusion
Todayam grateful to my mentor Sam and I don’t regret choosing IT as mycareer path, because I know that I have someone who not only caresbut wishes that I succeed and perhaps soar to great heights ofsuccess. And that person is Sam.
References
Roen, D.,Glaw, G., & Maid, B. (2012). TheMcGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College Writing for Life(3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.