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The Impact of Mentoring

As a professional geologist, whether in academia, government, be paired with Judy my first year as an OTF student, and I am
or industry, your experience is invaluable to a student contem- looking forward to mentoring OTF scholars in the future.”
plating his or her future. The GSA Foundation supports a number
of mentor opportunities that GSA offers, ranging from Career The year after her OTF participation, Kaydee received an
Pathway programs at the Annual Meeting to Section Meeting outstanding mention on her GSA student grant proposal. That
programming. year she also received the Association for Women Geoscientists
Winifred Goldring Award. Kaydee completed her master’s
One popular mentor opportunity is available through GSA’s degree in August 2016 and is currently working as an instructor
On To the Future grassroots initiative to help build a diverse at Hillsborough Community College. She has accepted a fellow-
geoscience community. Volunteer mentors are paired with students ship from the University of Alabama to start working on a Ph.D.
from underrepresented groups in the geosciences who receive in the spring of 2017.
travel grants and registrations to attend their first GSA Annual
Meeting. These mentors guide their students throughout the Please consider contributing to success stories like this one
meeting while sharing professional and personal experiences of through support of On To the Future—and see video of Judy
geoscience careers. This often includes helping choose sessions with another OTF mentee at the 2015 Baltimore meeting at
and making introductions to others at the conference. http://www.gsafweb.org/fund/on-to-the-future-fund/.

Judy Parrish, a current GSA Foundation Trustee and Past Kaydee West receiving a research grant outstanding mention from past GSA
President of GSA, was paired with student Kaydee West for the President Jon Price (2015).
2014 program. “When I first met Kaydee, I could tell she was
terribly nervous but also absolutely determined to make the best
of the experience. She impressed me right away with her grit,
articulateness, and positive attitude, and I just knew she would
be a success. We met several times during that meeting, and I
was so pleased to be able to introduce her to so many people.
Over the years, I have enjoyed keeping up with her progress and
experiences, such as a research cruise she went on. I was
delighted she sent me pictures of the cruise. We’ve met at both
GSA annual meetings since the first. I’ve introduced her to
subsequent OTF mentees, and she has been welcoming and
generous with her time. At the most recent meeting, I heard her
give a talk, and she was poised and organized, really hit it out of
the park. A very prominent person in her field of expertise
shouted out “Great idea!” at the end of her talk. I am so pleased
she is entering a Ph.D. program, and feel honored to be her
OTF mentor.”

Kaydee conveys an equally positive experience from her GSA TODAY | www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
perspective as mentee: “I was a part of the OTF cohort in
Vancouver in 2014. I had just started working on a master’s Kaydee West at work on a research cruise.
degree at the University of South Florida, and flying across the
continent to my first GSA meeting was intimidating to say the
least. I’m not sure I can adequately express how being paired
with a mentor at GSA helped both at that first meeting and in
the years since. Judy immediately took me under her wing, and
she’s been a source of encouragement to me since I’ve known
her. During my first GSA, she met with me every day and intro-
duced me to so many people I lost count. She came to my first
poster and oral presentations at GSA and provided constructive
feedback after both. I am grateful that I was fortunate enough to

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