Peer Mentoring Networks: Building and Bonding as a Black Woman in STEM
Hi again! I’m Arianna Long (she/her) and I’m a doctoral candidate studying astrophysics at UC Irvine. I’ve loved STEM since I was a little girl, but I also enjoyed other things like competitive dance, writing, and art. Growing up, I didn’t know any scientists, and the few I met I certainly didn’t relate to. This became increasingly obvious — and painful — as I navigated academia. In the end, I only persisted because I had mentors and peers who offered encouragement and respite.
Now, I spend my free time paying it forward in hopes of creating a better academic culture for those behind me. For this year’s National Mentoring Month, I wanted to share some unconventional mentoring perspectives that help me survive and thrive as a Black woman in STEM. This piece focuses on peer mentorship. I also wrote an earlier piece for #VanguardSTEM on mentor support networks. I hope you find something that helps you on your journey, wherever you are!
Growing up, I attended public school in one of the most diverse cities in the country. While I remember fewer Black people in my high-level science courses, I was never “the only.” So, you can imagine my shock when I entered college as a declared math major and I was the only Black person, and one of just a handful of women, in all of my classes. As a first-generation Black woman in STEM — I really had no idea what kind of experience I was signing up for.
I was not prepared to attend a predominantly White institution (PWI) in a White, male dominated field — and I don’t mean academically. There was this pervasive culture of competition and seriousness that was antithetical to the cultures I grew up in; there was a “hidden curriculum” on what to do and how to act around professors in order to be successful later on — rules I was only able learn through unknowingly breaking them or missing them entirely; and, of course, there was blatant racism and sexism. Upon graduation, I remember feeling so relieved yet so lost on why I even enjoyed math in the first place. I felt robbed of my identity and passion for STEM.
Despite this exhausting experience, I kept going.
Learning Physics in a Community of Support
A couple years later, I finally experienced what it was like to learn and explore science as part of a diverse and supportive student body. My first day as a master’s student in the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at Cal State Los Angeles (CSULA) was also the first day I had multiple Black and brown peers since grade school — and it felt amazing. We had community. We studied together, we laughed together, we struggled together.
Suddenly it felt like not only did I belong, but my presence and intellectual abilities were protected and celebrated among my peers. We openly discussed the wrongness of a professor’s racist remarks, and how to best avoid that professor in the future. Senior students guided junior students through picking classes, advisors and thesis topics to align with their post-grad goals. We shared textbooks that were too expensive to individually purchase, and shared lecture notes when some of us missed class during culturally important (but not University-recognized) holidays. I felt supported and whole, like I had a community that saw me for who I really was.
Suddenly it felt like not only did I belong, but my presence and intellectual abilities were protected and celebrated among my peers.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was experiencing informal peer mentoring. As I progressed through my academic journey, formal and informal peer mentoring spaces became increasingly important to me and my persistence in STEM.
What exactly is peer mentoring?
When you think of the word mentor, most folks imagine a one-on-one, hierarchical relationship between a mentor and a mentee. This means that there is usually a power dynamic between the mentor and mentee. Depending on the cultural and societal systems at play, this power dynamic can set limits on the mentee’s growth and, in some cases, open the door for abuse and harassment.
Peer mentorship creates space for bonding over shared experiences.
Peer mentorship removes this power dynamic and creates space for bonding over shared experiences. Shared experiences can strengthen an individual’s sense of belonging, fortify science identities and help bridge knowledge gaps in the hidden curriculum. The swapping of roles between mentor and mentee can create relationships based in equity and empathy, and strengthen skills in leadership and self-efficacy. The list of benefits for all parties involved is boundless and, for some of us, these benefits are the only things that prevented us from dropping out of STEM a long time ago.
Peer Mentoring as a Counterspace
In my experience, the purest forms of peer mentoring spaces are counterspaces. Ong, Smith, & Ko (2018) interpret counterspaces in STEM as, “ ‘safe spaces’ at the margins for groups outside the mainstream of STEM education.” They are spaces where marginalized students can feel seen and valued as scientists; where they can safely vent about the harassment and discrimination they’ve experienced without fear of repercussions; and, where they can receive validation and support in developing and expressing their identities.
Peer mentoring can provide this sort of support in formal and informal ways. Informal peer-mentoring spaces are the ones that form without institutional leadership, like starting a study group or making dinner plans with other marginalized scientists at a national conference. They can also take place online or through social media, like the Vanguard: Conversations
with Women of Color in STEM #VSVillage Gatherings. These spaces allow for more organic conversations and opportunities to connect, empathize, and support one another, without all of the pressure and formalities that hierarchical relationships can have.
Knowing these unwritten rules may seem trivial to some, but to me and many others they were completely new…I had to learn [them] the hard way, through struggle and burnout. But it doesn’t need to be that way.
Formal peer mentoring programs are run by organizations, and often have structured meeting times with specific goals or topics of discussion. For example, I and fellow astrophysics graduate student Katy Rodriguez Wimberly co-founded a formal peer mentoring program to foster community within my department and normalize the struggles of first year graduate students (we’re pictured accepting an award on the left). Each monthly session has a different topic that typically covers some sort of unwritten rule for success, such as how to align your time with your academic priorities, or how funding works in the department. These concepts may seem trivial to some, but to me and many others they were completely new. I didn’t know how too much service work was likely detrimental to my career, and I didn’t know that, at my institution, switching from one source of funding to another may result in a two month payment gap. These were things I had to learn the hard way, through struggle and burnout. But it doesn’t need to be that way.
Peer mentoring can change our culture
With peer mentoring, we can form a wider collective that reduces the pain inflicted by systemic disparities. We can navigate uncomfortable discussions together, using our collective knowledge to unravel and understand the systemic issues at play. We can share our resources to combat and reject this culture, to better “level the playing field.” We can learn from one another, and see how diverse we are in our experiences — yet the same in our shared love for science, among other things. We can truly create measurable change within STEM culture. Ultimately, this change only requires our compassion.
Without supportive peers, I don’t think I’d be here, 18 months out from becoming one of the first 200 Black women with a physics PhD. Along my journey, my peers shared their stories to show me that I wasn’t alone, they shared their resources to help me succeed, and they actively showed me and told me that I belonged in science.
Have you found peer mentoring spaces that help you persist in STEM and love your scientist self? You are always welcome in the #VSVillage and please do share others with us so we can continue to grow the community!
This article was originally published on January 21, 2021 on VanguardSTEM.com as part of our National Mentoring Month series called, Guerilla Mentoring Month.
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