On a September afternoon in 2024, undergraduate students gathered in the Ecology Building’s outdoor courtyard with eager smiles. In just a few moments, they would find their assigned peer, scan printed QR codes to access an ice breaker bingo card and grab a popsicle.

As Jordan Cutts (AB ’25) took to the stairs and prepared to speak, she marveled at the number of people who’d shown up for the Odum School Undergraduate Mentor Program (OSUMP)—roughly 40 more people than what she saw in fall 2022, when she joined the program. 

Cutts started as a mentee but served as president of OSUMP from 2023 to 2025.

“A lot has changed. Two years ago, there were fewer than a dozen pairs, and now we have 75 members, so 40 pairings,” she said. “There are only 200 undergrads in Odum, so almost half of the undergrads want to be in the mentor program. It’s wild that in two years, it became this.”

Peer-to-peer mentoring

OSUMP is a student-led organization that connects Odum School of Ecology undergraduates through paired mentor-mentee relationships. With scheduled group events and one-on-one mentor-mentee meetings like coffee dates, OSUMP creates opportunities for students to connect.

The program strives to pair more experienced students with incoming or new transfer students, according to Kaitlin Farrell, an ecology lecturer and OSUMP faculty advisor.

“We pair them based on their ecological interests, their career goals or their degree program,” she said. “And they can identify specific needs for mentorship, whether it’s finding internships, exploring research, improving time management skills, striving for work-life balance, or building connections on campus.”

Cutts and Riley Forrestall (BS/BS ’25) took leadership of the program in the fall of 2023 and, in 2024, decided to plan out events earlier in the year.

With good scheduling, OSUMP captured the attention of more undergrads, drawing them to fall events like a cabin trip, a fall Walk ‘n’ Talk at Lake Herrick and a hot cocoa gathering. Last spring, mentees and mentors gathered for Arts ‘n’ Craft Night, Green Thumb Litter Clean-Up, and the second-annual Tie Dye Farewell Extravaganza on the Odum front lawn.

“At a school with over 40,000 people, you need a smaller community,” said undergrad Ava Macie. “Even more than that, this mentor program intentionally brings students together who have similar interests, so it’s really cool.”

Macie’s mentor, Emme McCumiskey, helped Macie navigate changes to her course load after transitioning from the B.S. degree in ecology program to the A.B. program. McCumiskey, a senior A.B. major, also worked as an intern for UGA’s Office of Sustainability—a position she secured thanks to her own experience as a mentee in OSUMP. 

McCumisky took away valuable experiences from her mentor, Madison Caren (BS ’24).

“I absolutely love Madison. She also worked in the Office of Sustainability, which is where I work now, and she was the one who inspired me to start working there,” McCumiskey said. “As my mentor, she also helped me work through my sustainability grant project.” 

Cutts first got involved with OSUMP as a mentee. She felt out of place when she arrived at Odum, but in her sophomore year, OSUMP connected her.

“I grew up as a super shy kid,” Cutts said. “When I first came to UGA, I was an ecology major, but as a freshman, I did not come and hang around. I was not in the building except for when I had to be in the class, and then I would leave. So, I really wasn’t that involved. I signed up and got Lindsay Jason (BS ’23) as my mentor. I was a little intimidated, but she was really good about being like, ‘Hey, you’re coming, right? Come, just come.’ So, I got out of my comfort zone.”

A smaller community

As a mentee last year, Sean Yates already knew a handful of ecology students but thought that OSUMP could widen that community. 

“A lot of the people here transferred into Odum and are looking to find some footing. I came in from Franklin where it’s so big,” he said. “You get to know a lot more people here at Odum. But at the same time, coming in felt a little difficult because there’s a lot of people who do have such an extensive background. I thought the mentor program was a fantastic way to ease that transition.”

Mentees receive more than just social connection. As a mentor, Forrestall was able to connect his mentee with work opportunities. He’d spent a summer in California helping with a master’s project for Oregon State University on how fuel breaks on private logging land affect native bumblebee populations. 

“When I meet a person who’s into pollinators, I’m like, ‘Oh, just you wait because I have this plethora of little opportunities,’” he said. “I helped facilitate putting her in contact with my boss from the summer before, when I went out to California, and she was able to do the same thing.”

Looking back, Cutts sees how joining a mentor program her freshman year would have helped her come out of her shell sooner. She wants OSUMP to help create an undergrad community that makes any student at Odum feel welcome.

“OSUMP helps those freshmen, like me, who are very shy and just don’t know anything yet—they’re new to college, new to ecology, new to anything. Having a mentor who is a little bit more seasoned, even if just a semester, can make all the difference,” Cutts said. 

“To people who want to sign up as mentors, I think it’s an amazing opportunity to share the wealth of what you’ve learned. We get to be a steppingstone between the future generation and the already amazing Odum community.”

OSUMP has a welcome event planned for Sept. 16; details will be posted on OSUMP’s Instagram account: @ose_mentorship. Other fall events include a day at Eugene Odum’s Cabin in Ila, a guest speaker, and a Friendsgiving.

“I spent the past two years as a mentee in OSUMP absolutely reveling in the support, kindness and fun that OSUMP provides its members,” said Adrienne Jock, who will serve as OSUMP’s vice president for 2025-26, alongside President Henry Traynor. “Whether it be roasting s’mores during the cabin trip or chatting over a coffee, I have formed friendships with both mentors and mentees that I consider to be lifelong. The excitement that I now have, not only to be a mentor, but also to lead this organization is indescribable.”