SLR Mentorship Program Update - OCT/NOV/DEC 2025

For the October/November/December 2025 cycle, we had a total of 6 participants: 3 mentor/mentee pairs.

At the close out meeting mentorship coordinator Amy Rubinger went back to the submitted applications from September and reviewed the goals that the mentees wanted to work on. Although most wanted to improve on various aspects of interpreting (ie: receptive finger spelling, ASL to English, more conceptual interpreting), what was consistent after the 3 month cycle was their feelings of insecurity, imposter syndrome, and confidence in their work, which ultimately served to create barriers to passing the NIC Certification exam. 

In response to this, mentorship coordinator, Amy Rubinger set up a follow up meeting with mentees and mentors from previous cycles to talk about and support each other through the certification process. In a safe space, the group discussed strategies for overcoming anxiety and their feelings about the test. Certified mentors shared their experiences and subsequent successes. Ultimately, 2 of the 3 mentees were preparing for their scheduled NIC Certification tests and both scheduled their performance tests a month after the cycle ended. 

The February/March/April 2026 cycle has just begun. We have 8 participants: 4 mentor/mentee pairs. One of our mentors this cycle is a former mentee from a previous cycle who became certified!