Pay it Forward While Giving Back: Why the HGS Needs a Mentoring Chair
Did you know that HGS members are invested in mentoring students? This month, I was privileged to speak with two students, Alexandra Price and Allison Barbato (Duxbury), who shared their experiences of receiving multi-year mentorship from HGS members. I was surprised (shocked!) to hear about the strong support HGS members provide. HGS mentorship is not well-publicized, and I suspect there are many members unaware of current mentorship opportunities. However, mentorship has significant future reciprocal benefits for HGS; we need students and early career professionals to maintain membership numbers and invigorate the organization. Discussions this month led me to this question: what can the HGS do to steward ourselves on mentorship and thereby grow value for the organization?
Mentorship is essential to developing strong geologists
Nearly 20 years ago, I made my first structure-time map based on seismic interpretation. It wasn’t good. The team used a color bar convention where warmer colors indicated shallower structure; but I had reversed the color bar, so synclines looked like anticlines to the casual observer. Luckily, I reviewed the map with a mentor. He caught the mistake before I thoroughly embarrassed myself to the rest of the team and my management.
I was fortunate to have mentorship throughout my early career because it helped me quickly learn how to apply geology skills. Some geology practices require experiential learning that comes with solving real-world problems. Mentors can play a critical role in guiding problem-solving, and in helping to grow skills. Now in my 19th year of professional experience, I still engage with mentors on a regular basis.
HGS mentors are active
I was surprised to hear from Barbato and Price about the continued mentorship support they have received. I wasn’t aware that many of the professionals involved in the HGS Scholarship Fund and Calvert Fund also contributed their time and talents to mentoring students. Allison Barbato (Duxbury) recounted the significant impact on her career trajectory made by HGS member Jeff Lund, who encouraged her to learn about the business of geology while learning about the science. Barbato described how conversations with Bill DeMis, focused her views on value of the Oil and Gas industry. Another student I interviewed, Alexandra Price, described how mentoring conversations with HGS members led her to apply and receive the Calvert Scholarship funding.
Mentorship has a cascading effect. Barbato describes in her Bulletin article, The Secret Sauce, how she mentored her university peers and contributed to an increase in the number of internship and job offers to Louisiana State University students in 2023. Barbato explains that by giving back to her peers, she is paying it forward to the next generation of geologists.
Call to Action: spotlight and steward mentorship
While HGS has dedicated committees to focus on education of students and professionals, community outreach and more, we don’t have a formal mentoring committee. Mentorship deserves attention. The HGS should steward and report on mentoring activities, because mentoring is a critical component of developing the next generation of geologists and it results in reciprocal value to the HGS by growing volunteers. HGS should put a spotlight on the valuable work on our mentors and steward ourselves to expand mentorship offerings. The first step in this process is to name a “Mentoring Chair” to set goals and record progress. Let’s all pay it forward by giving back.
See more articles related to mentoring in this edition of the Bulletin:
• Read about students benefiting from HGS mentorship and scholarships in Students + HGS = Mutual Benefits
• Learn about the transformation of the AAPG student chapter at LSU in The Secret Sauce, written by Allison Barbato (Duxbury)
• Deborah Sacrey shares mentoring advice for consulting geologists in A conversation with Deborah Sacrey
Other stories featured in this month’s Bulletin:
• Learn about reservoirs that might be good candidates for CCUS projects in the technical contribution by Selim Shaker.
• See photos that recap recent events like the Annual Shrimp Peel and GeoGulf 2024.