The Alumni Cadet-Mentoring Program, under the direction of Regimental and Student Life Committee Chairman Ed Shepherd, was launched in April, 2002. Currently, over eighty volunteer alumni mentors have been paired up with fourth class cadets.

The program still needs scores of new volunteers. Although regular face-to-face contact is most desirable, alumni who live outside the New York City area can still be effective mentors by way of e-mail and telephone contact. In fact, about one-third of the current mentors are alumni whose contact is exclusively by phone and e-mail. They live in seventeen states and two foreign countries. The others meet with their students regularly as well as by phone and e-mail.

The importance of the mentoring program cannot be understated. Among the major challenges facing the Maritime College is increasing the retention rate for incoming cadet classes. During the past school year 15 percent of the fourth class left school for a variety of reasons. This concern is not limited to Maritime, however. A U.S. Navy survey of junior officers found that they ranked access to mentoring as one of the strongest factors influencing professional development and retention. And mentoring is a method used by many companies to foster employee learning and development.

The Alumni Association's Board of Directors is solidly behind the program. In fact, five board members are currently serving as mentors, including Ted Mason, current board president AND Steve Carbery, immediate past president.

There is nothing complicated about being a mentor. It is just an informal relationship between a cadet and an older, more experienced graduate of the college. The mentor provides ongoing moral support, encouragement, advice, and a perspective on where the cadet is along the path to achieving his or her goals, by giving honest feedback and guidance. The mentor and the cadet must both be committed to the relationship for the process to work, and it's up to them to decide how often and in what manner they communicate. Successful mentoring matches could continue for one school year or throughout the cadet's college years and even beyond.

Here's how the program works. Alumni volunteers contact Ed Shepherd, who gathers basic information from each on their background and personal and professional interests. He then provides the college with a list of the volunteers. A team of second class indoctrination officers, under the direction of Captain Rick Smith, Commandant of Cadets, matches the mentors with cadets. Shepherd then notifies volunteers of their cadet assignments and the volunteers make initial contact with their cadets, either in person, by e-mail, or by phone.