Mentor Program

Academy mentors are essential to the creation and leading of the Academy's Summer Intensive and Nobel Conference Gathering each year. They mentor high school Academy Fellows during the summer program and model the capacity to collaborate with others and to grapple with complex ethical challenges utilizing knowledge from the disciplines of faith, science, and ethics.

The mentor program employs nine Gustavus students who work for four to six weeks during the first half of the summer and during the Nobel Conference Gathering in the fall. The mentor program includes learning and formation through in-depth engagement with theological and biblical texts, vocational reflection, community and leadership development, spiritual practices, and Academy Summer Intensive design and planning.

Mentors spend three to five weeks in training and development—spending mornings worshiping, learning, and discussing key texts and topics with members of the leadership team and invited Gustavus faculty—and afternoons working in three planning teams: worship, mentor group curriculum, and recreation. Returning mentors serve as project leaders for each of three mentor work teams and work together to create mentor groups, which include a mentor, senior fellow, and five Academy fellows. The three mentor work teams are responsible for designing activities for the Academy fellows summer program. Because the theme is different each year, worship services, recreational activities, and mentor group curriculum need to be newly designed each summer to fit the year’s theme. Mentors also each write a sermon related to the Academy theme; sermons are preached during worship services at the weeklong Academy Summer Intensive. 

Mentors live together in campus apartments throughout their training period, creating community around shared meals and informal evening conversations, board games, exercise, and self-organized activities. During the Nobel Conference Gathering, mentors serve as hosts for returning Academy and senior fellows. Mentors nurture connections via social media with their fellows and senior fellows throughout the year, building a connected Academy community that lasts beyond their experience on the Gustavus campus. The mentor program includes Gustavus students who have completed their first, second, or third year at Gustavus, are studying a variety of majors, and are discerning future careers in a variety of fields. 

Read the mentor job description here.

Mentor applications for employment in summer 2023 are due February 13th, 2023.