fall 2013 / 25
FEATURES
As Brooks Busby entered his junior
year at Birmingham-Southern, he
knew he was on the right track. As a
business major, he was learning the
skills he’d need after graduation. As
a soccer player, he was mastering
discipline and leadership. And yet, he
felt like something was still missing: a
mentor.
“I wanted to have a mentor who
could give me an idea of where I stood
as a college student, could point out
what I needed to work on, and also
might help me find some contacts
for a job after college,” said Busby, a
Homewood native who’s now a senior.
“My mom has been my mentor my
entire life, and sometimes it’s good to
hear something from someone who
hasn’t known you since birth.”
He found just what he was looking
for in BSC’s new Panther Partnerships
Mentoring Program, which began last
year under the auspices of the college’s
Norton Board of Advisors. Busby was
one of just 10 students in the first year
pilot of the program. This fall, 26
students have signed up, and the hope
is to eventually make mentorships
available to all Birmingham-Southern
juniors.
“This is such an important program,”
said Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith, BSC’s
former chief of staff, who founded—
and generously sponsored—Panther
Partnerships. “It’s a way to give our
students something they can’t get in
the classroom: hands-on, one-on-one
advice tailored to their pre-professional
needs. And it gets them ready to land
on their feet when they graduate.”
Panther Partnerships is also a sign of
the revitalization of the Norton Board,
a group of some 250 professionals
committed to helping Birmingham-
Southern and its students. This
summer, current Chief of Staff Russ
Appleton has worked to restructure
the board to re-focus it on providing
internships and other real-world
opportunities for BSC students. The
board now has seven committees—
each with a faculty or staff advisor—
focused on connecting students to
experiences in their fields of interest,
including health care, law, education,
business, engineering, the non-profit
world, and fine arts.
“As soon as I came to BSC, I realized
the Norton Board was unique to this
college and had remarkable potential,”
said BSC’s president, Gen. Charles
C. Krulak. “Now we’re finding a way
to harness that strength to give our
students direct access to the kinds of
hands-on experiences they need to
Panther Partnerships
M E N T O R I N G P R O G R A M
Intensive mentoring program pairs
BSC juniors with local professionals
BY
HANNAH WOLFSON
Busby
Kopkin
I have gottenmore out of the mentor program than I
ever planned on getting. Mymentor helped focus me
and pointed out my strengths and weaknesses so I
would know exactly what to work on. And I know it’s
a relationship that will continue.
.
BROOKS BUSBY
