The University Honors Program offers a wealth of programs and opportunities to those students who can make the grade. The Freshman Mentors program is one of these programs, but few people know much about it.

The 10-year-old program matches students in the Freshman Honors program with Iowa State faculty engaged in research projects.

The participating students conduct research for their mentors either on their own or as part of a research team. The research usually takes place during the second semester of the student’s freshman year.

Rachel Faber, sophomore in zoology, was a participant in the program last year.

“My mentor provided a perfect balance of guidance and autonomy for me,” Faber said.

“I worked in writing articles over sociological and economic issues for rural Iowa, which were distributed to over 100 Iowa newspapers,” she said. “I enjoyed meaningful contact with my mentor with enough flexibility for me to work on research and writing at a steady pace.”

Stephanie Hamilton of the University Honors Program is involved with the Freshman Mentors program.

“It’s a good opportunity for the freshmen to get involved with some sort of research endeavor at the university,” Hamilton said. “We have mentors from all different colleges and almost every department.”

Even with this large number of faculty participating, the demand for mentors is still high.

“We had 286 freshmen last year in the program,” Hamilton said, “and this year we have about 360 to 365, so we’re needing more mentors. And we’ve been doing more to encourage people to sign up to be mentors.”

Hamilton invited any ISU faculty members or graduate students who are interested in becoming a mentor to contact her at 294-4292.

“Our students are all high-ability students,” Hamilton said. “What we’ve found is that the earlier they become involved in research experiences the more likely they are to get on the right track.”