AIM
Founded in 1993, the Asian American Interactive Mentoring Program (AIM) program matches Asian American sophomore students with Asian American faculty, staff and alumni for one-on-one mentoring experiences. AIM seeks to provide these students with mentors who are sensitive to cultural differences that may affect a student’s experience and success at Stanford. AIM also seeks to provide faculty, staff and alumni with a means of interacting with undergraduates in a meaningful way.
A letter from the AIM Coordinator
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July 15, 2009
Dear Sophomore,
Congratulations on completing your first year at Stanford! I hope you are enjoying your summer and will be ready to start an exciting sophomore year in the fall!
My name is Lan Le, an incoming senior from Sacramento, California, hoping to complete my Human Biology major (I’m almost done!). In the upcoming school year, I will serve as Coordinator for the Asian American Interactive Mentoring (AIM) Program. As a former participant in AIM, I would like to share with you my own personal experience and encourage you to apply to this great program.
As an AIM mentee during my sophomore year, I had the great privilege of being paired with Ron Nakao, a Data Specialist at Green Library. Ron put a lot of effort in getting to know me as a person and as a student. We planned lunch and dinner outings and had many fun as well as intellectual conversations. He shared his personal experiences about his career as an undergraduate and graduate student, and his insights helped me re-evaluate my own opinions about many social issues and topics that are important to me. He would check in to see how my quarter was going and would always take some time to talk with me whenever I met him at an event on campus. I learned an incredible amount from Ron, and he has become someone I trust as my mentor and friend.
Participating in the AIM program is a great way to meet and learn from those who are part of the Stanford community but who may often go unnoticed or unrecognized by students. Like me, you may have walked into an event with students, staff, and alumni, and not be able to recognize any else outside of your student group. However, knowing a friendly face in a crowd of unfamiliar people makes the process of approaching others easier and less nerve racking. But in order to develop this level of familiarity, you need to put in the effort. AIM helps to facilitate this process because it is both structured and, at the same time, very flexible and accommodating, allowing mentors and mentees to schedule outings that match their schedules. As with any mentorship, what you get out of the relationship depends on the effort you give. And trust me, it’ll be worth doing!
In participating with AIM, you will also have the opportunity to learn more about the Asian American Activities Center. Even if you may not be familiar with the A3C (A-“cubed”-C), this is a great way to connect to a valuable on-campus resource that serves the Asian American and Stanford communities and beyond.
The mentors we will be assigning to you are as excited for this upcoming year as I am. This is a unique and worthwhile opportunity only available your sophomore year, and I hope you take time to consider applying to be a part of the AIM program. If you have any further questions or just want to say hello, please feel free to email me at lan.le@stanford.edu. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to having you be part of the AIM family!
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the rest of your summer!
Lan Le
AIM Program Coordinator 2009-2010