Regardless of the type of Senior Option, mentees must have an outside
sponsor in addition to their school mentor. Your mentor and parents
must approve this sponsor before further planning takes place.
- Once you have found your areas of interest, investigate where the
best place (s) would be to work and, consequently, who would be the
best outside person with whom to work.
- Use the Website database, the web, or personal contacts to find SEVERAL
possible placements and sponsors.
- Work with your mentor to create a set of criteria you can use to make
the best decision.
- Visit each site. Talk to people about working there. Does it seem
like a good place to work? What’s the transportation issue? Do
the people there seem happy?
- Interview each potential sponsor. Work with your mentor to prepare
questions to ask in order to best determine which site and sponsor is
best for you and your Senior Option choice.
- Ask questions that provide the answers you need to plan your option
well. Your proposal will be based on this information.
- Give them a copy of SPONSOR’S ROLE
from the Website
- Use the website to help them understand why you are there.
- Make sure they understand their responsibilities to you as well as
your responsibilities to them.
- Pin down what they will let you do, and what they won’t.
- Find out if they will let you do what you want to do or feel you need
to do.
- Ask if you will have the opportunities to: research your essential
questions and have other questions answered, travel, work independently,
spend a good amount of time with them, be their shadow, work with on
site teams, learn what they do and how they do it…etc.
- Ask how much menial labor you must contribute.
- Make sure you do not simply become free labor.
Before you finally decide…
Be sure.
Have a plan “B” in case something strange happens….and
it sometimes does.