I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do - reporting to my camp director that a dining hall toilet needed to be fixed. He told me to hold on, and darted off, returning with a plunger. He approached me with a grin.
“Why didn’t you call the maintenance team?” I asked, eyeing the plunger suspiciously.
“Do you want to be in charge some day?” He smiled.
I nodded.
“Then everything at camp is your problem.”
And that is how I learned not just to plunge a toilet, but also what it meant to be responsible for everything in my work.
I often tell this story with a glint in my eye, remembering my boss’s eyes glinting with glee, matching my “I will run this” neophyte energy…with a toilet plunger.
Whenever I tell this story, it’s always in the context of mentorship. I think about what it means to work with seasoned professionals, to learn from them, to be guided on a path by them. Mentors help their mentees on their professional journey by believing in their mentees while actively teaching them, and often, having fun. The joys of mentorship are many.
And, now that I have worked for many years, I think about what it means to teach others, helping them progress through a process. Mentors can’t help but learn and grow alongside the learners in orbit - whether they’re a kid in your education program or a grown up in one of their first full-time jobs after graduation.
I’ve had great fun over the years being a formal mentor to many professionals, helping them process their next educational move, build a strategy around a hard conversation, and ramp up to being a senior professional in their own right.
Participants in the pilot ARJE Mentorship Program reported many lessons learned. They indicated they’d learned about how their full congregation is at play in their school, they were supported while navigating complicated situations in their office, and they collaborated to set achievable goals for their work. Mentors AND mentees enjoyed knowledge sharing, having a partner for bouncing ideas around, and felt like their growth was a priority for their organization, their mentor, and the ARJE more broadly.
Maybe you’re a seasoned professional, one who’s plunged many a (proverbial) toilet. Maybe you’re greener in the field, and you’re fired up to learn all the things and do the best job ever. Either way, joining the ARJE Jan D. Katzew Mentorship Program’s Second Cohort will afford you the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to collaborate. The cohort will kick off with an inspiring gathering from November 12th and 13th, 2026, in Needham MA and will continue through late Fall, 2027.
Sara Beth Berman
ARJE Career Services Committee Member
To apply to the program as a mentor, click here.
To apply to the program as a mentee, click here.
To learn more about the program, click here or contact ARJE member Sharon Brown at sab@tilb.org