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You Make On To the Future’s Mentor-Mentee

Relationships Possible

Do you remember your first GSA Annual Meeting? Even for mentoring, although she thought she did. In our conversations,
those of us who have been coming for years, it can be an over- she clearly had good perceptions about the profession and pos-
whelming experience. For students attending their first profes- sibilities she could pursue, and was enthusiastically excited
sional conference, it can be daunting. The On To the Future (OTF) about the geosciences. I think my main contribution was to vali-
initiative provides one year of membership, meeting registration, date her already good ideas and direction.” For Afiqah, Joan not
and travel scholarships to students from underrepresented groups only provided validation, but was a warm-hearted, considerate
in the geosciences to attend their first annual meeting. The key to presence who, as a woman in the geosciences, was an inspira-
the program’s success is GSA members and donors like you, tion. “Women especially are underrepresented in many indus-
whose gifts of time and resources enable the mentor-mentee rela- tries, and I want this trend to change. I want Muslim women to
tionships that provide support and inspiration during the meeting. have the same experience as any other geoscientist, and I believe
This was the case for 2018 OTF participant Afiqah Ahmad that geology is now ready to leave gender division behind. Joan’s
Rafi, a student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. When passion, love, and sincerity definitely inspired me to grow and
Afiqah first learned about the OTF program, she recognized it hopefully be an inspiration to future generations too.”
as an important opportunity to meet colleagues who shared her You make these mentor-mentee relationships possible.
academic interests and to enter into the professional geoscience Your generosity has made On To the Future a critical program
community. After being accepted into the program, Afiqah’s that facilitates greater student success at our annual meeting and
next step was to select a mentor utilizing GSA’s student-driven beyond, and with your help, even more students and mentors can
platform—a recent innovation to the program. Individuals regis- benefit from this experience. If you would like to support the
tered for the annual meeting who want to support OTF students OTF program, please contact Clifton Cullen at +1-303-357-1007
can access the mentor platform to create a profile. In turn, or via email at ccullen@geosociety.org.
students search the list of available mentors to find one whose
experience and background best fits their needs and interests,
creating a deeper investment in the program and further enrich-
ing the mentorship relationship.
It was through this platform that Afiqah choose Joan Fryxell,
a GSA Councilor and professor at California State University
San Bernardino. Joan is a long-time mentor for the program,
whose enthusiasm for OTF stemmed from witnessing the enthu-
siastic interactions between mentors and mentees at past meet-
ings. More importantly, however, she was inspired by a desire to
help first-time student attendees: “My students expressed much
interest in having mentors to help guide them through their first
meetings, which are otherwise pretty overwhelming, and some-
what intimidating.”
Throughout the 2018 GSA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis,
Indiana, USA, Joan and Afiqah checked in regularly. Joan was Joan Fryxell and Afiqah Ahmad Rafi taking the opportunity to catch-up
impressed with Afiqah, noting that, “She didn’t need much during the GSA 2018 Annual Meeting.

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