In San Diego’s higher education and workforce ecosystems, success is often framed as an individual achievement or a road walked alone. Whether it is degrees earned or a career pivot, anyone who has navigated education or the workplace during moments of unpredictability understands that progress is not a solo endeavor, but a product of shared judgment and hard-earned perspective.
What moves people forward, especially when the path feels unclear, is often something quieter and less visible: it’s mentorship. Research from the American Council on Education shows that mentorship consistently shapes outcomes in powerful ways, such as demystifying educational pathways, expanding their social networks, and giving individuals the confidence and social equity to expand their career options.
When done well, it doesn’t just help one person succeed; it creates momentum, lifts everyone within reach, and sets the stage for mentees to become mentors.
During my first month at Western Governors University, a Utah-based online institution, I reviewed a set of graduate speaker submissions. The assignment grew quickly, eventually totaling more than fifty videos. As I watched, the recurring detail of graduates mentioning their mentors as someone who checked in, listened and helped them work through moments when progress felt uncertain surfaced. In those moments, a conversation with a mentor appeared to help them regain footing, clarify next steps or simply pause long enough to keep moving.
What stood out was the consistency of these mentions across otherwise different circumstances. I was aware that mentorship was part of the student experience. However, seeing how often it appeared, without prompting, across dozens of accounts suggested that it was embedded in the process of persistence rather than completion.
In San Diego, city and regional partners are already applying the same principle in workforce programs, pairing young adults with supervisors and coaches who help them translate passions into a first job or new career. These efforts reflect the community’s core values. San Diego isn’t asking people to navigate these transitions alone. It’s investing in consistent mentor support and building that guidance into how people learn, work and take their next step.
According to the San Diego Workforce Partnership’s 2024 annual report, more than 1,300 people were connected to employment or education opportunities, supported by more than $4 million in job-readiness training, new apprenticeship and training projects, and dozens of hiring events across the county. The message is clear. San Diego is building workforce development with intention, strengthening the training, relationships and pathways that help people step into the local economy.
In San Diego, the question is not whether mentorship matters, but whether we take responsibility for sustaining it. Progress rarely stalls because ambition disappears. It stalls when guidance fades, leaving people to navigate complex transitions on their own.Mentorship is one of the few interventions that changes those conditions by making support part of the system rather than an act of luck.
When support is built in, progress becomes possible for more people, and more of San Diego’s potential stays in motion.
Bob P. Benson III is regional director for Western Governors University, where he leads initiatives to expand access to affordable, flexible and workforce-aligned education across the region. A longtime Carlsbad resident, he has more than 20 years of experience in higher education leadership, workforce development and student success.
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