The SAMI Family

As any alum can attest, the master’s program at the Ed School is a whirlwind of a year. By the time most students have their feet under them, they’re walking across the stage at graduation.

But a long-running program through the school’s Alumni Engagement office has helped students get advice from people in the field who know the HGSE experience best.

The Student-Alumni Mentoring Initiative (SAMI) brings together current students and alumni for a nine-month mentorship. Students meet one-on-one with their mentor at least once a month to get personal, professional, and academic advice.

Students from across all Ed School degree programs and concentrations and alums from across programs, decades, and geographic locations participate in SAMI. And the pairings have boomed over the last few years, growing from about 158 connections in 2018 to nearly 400 this year, with alums based around the world, including Taiwan, India, Denmark, and Argentina.

For most students, the biggest draw of the mentorship program is preparing for their future careers, says Emily Williams, director of career and alumni engagement. That includes getting advice from their mentors on courses that might help them down a certain career path or in making connections for future jobs or internships.

But another important draw is having a relationship with someone who knows firsthand what they are experiencing.

“The other thing is understanding,” Williams says. “We hear from students that they are feeling overwhelmed because the residential master’s programs are so quick, and sometimes it’s just nice to hear from someone who has been through it and [can] validate their experience.”

The partnerships are created based on a number of identifiers. Some students want a mentor who had a similar academic track, while others look for shared career aspirations. Often BIPOC students seek mentorship from BIPOC alums, and a growing number of international students seek out those alums with lived experiences beyond Boston and Cambridge.

While Charlotte Evans, Ed.M.’19, was a student in the International Education Policy master’s program, she says her SAMI mentor, Claudia Bach, Ed.D.’94, became like a substitute mom for her during her time at HGSE.

“We’d go and have lunch, and I’d tell her about all the things I was thinking, from courses I was signing up for or [feeling like I was] swimming in problem sets, and Claudia would keep me energized and focused and excited,” Evans says.

Bach, she says, even inspired her to become a mentor. This year, Evans has been working with Irene Koo, Ed.M.’25, from the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology Program.

Evans says her role isn’t to come up with solutions but to serve as a sounding board for Koo while also offering examples of her own experience.

“I think it’s helpful to have someone outside a close friend group or family to noodle over these questions and revisit what you’re hoping to accomplish in the program and what to do after,” Evans says.

Koo agrees.

“With peers, we’re all in this together, and faculty are a degree removed,” Koo says. “I turn Charlotte a lot in terms of really sharing the things I’m thinking through and asking her of her own HGSE journey and blind spots or things I should be thinking about.”

Although Evans is based in San Francisco, where she works at Coursera, she and Koo meet regularly over Zoom. They even had a chance to meet in person while Koo was home in the Bay Area over the winter.

Evans’ mentorship philosophy is guided by something her mentor, Bach, instilled in her.

“One of the things Claudia always said was that there are 800 ways to live out your 10 months at HGSE, but you can only choose one,” Evans recalls. “Having that nudging from Claudia as a student, I was able to maximize the year more as a mentee, and I hope that’s the feeling my mentees have.”

Bach’s lesson most likely will continue on to another generation of Ed School students, as Koo says she plans to become a SAMI mentor after graduation.

“Something that really stuck with me from my early conversations with Charlotte — that she also had a SAMI mentor that inspired her to give back — and her sharing that experience and seeing what a wonderful mentor she has been has inspired me to become a mentor that’s as genuine and warm and helpful as she is,” Koo says.