As a six-year mentor, I am constantly looking for new mountains to climb for myself and my mentee. Our last adventure with the Dorkshop provided a digital wonderland for us to explore together. On entering the classroom, I was immediately intimidated by all the technology at Parsons Design Studio. They had computers, smart phones, branching narratives, wireframes written on walls and video games to dissect. My mentee pulled out her iPhone and scanned QR codes. I displayed my silver Motorola Razr flip-phone and felt lost. Someone remarked, “Is that a vintage phone?”
In between workshops, in our pair sessions, I said to my mentee, “If this were a class, I’d get a D in it.” She assured me that it was easier than I thought and to just try. After a few more weeks, I studied all the handouts, read countless descriptions of interactive novels, asked lots of questions, and discovered that all this technology was a road to storytelling.
In the end, my mentee and I chose the same path and turned our in-progress novels into video games. I can’t wait for our next journey together.
- Halfway through the program year is a good time to reflect on the mentoring relationship. What did fellow mentor Joanna muse about?