MinTU started successfully: The first meeting of mentors and mentees increases anticipation for the MinTU year

On February 1st, 2024, the Equal Opportunities Office welcomed new and familiar mentors as well as the new mentees of this year's mentoring program "MinTU - Girls into TU Dortmund University".

More than 30 mentees and six mentors met in the early evening in the Rudolf Chaudoire Pavilion on Campus Süd for the kick-off event. The program coordinator, Jill Timmreck, first explained to the participants what mentoring actually is and what exciting experiences the MinTU year has in store for them. The program focuses in particular on sharing experiences, trying things out together and learning in groups. Over the course of the year, various workshops are planned in the STEM faculties, which the participants attend with their mentors. The groups also organize mentoring meetings where mentees and mentors can get to know each other better and the group can build a good sense of cohesion.

After the welcome and introduction to the program, the most exciting part of the evening followed: the 36 mentees were divided into groups by the mentoring lottery. This year's mentors want to pass on their own experiences and inspire more young women to study STEM subjects. Of course, the day was also exciting for the mentors, especially as most of them are MinTU mentors for the first time. However, two of them are not complete MinTU newcomers: they took part in the program as schoolgirls themselves and are delighted to now be able to take on the mentors' perspective.

The participants got together in groups drawn by lot and got to know each other for the first time. To break the ice, the mentors prepared very different ideas. The mentees drew details about themselves on profiles, played bingo or introduced themselves to each other. They learned a lot about each other in the process. Medical physics student Anna-Lena had her group carry out their first exciting experiments, in which the six mentees had to find innovative solutions to get wine gums to dry out. Computer science student Antonia had them decode and data science student Thao carried out a statistical estimation of sweets.

The groups not only played games, but also talked about their wishes and expectations for the year together: Exploring the TU campus together as a group and not only learning more about the STEM subjects at TU Dortmund University, but also getting a first impression of how studying works in general. Above all, all participants and mentors want to have a lot of fun together and make the MinTU mentoring program a complete success again this year.