Mustang Mentors Pair: Xzavier Washington (Mentee) and Kamile Cerna (Mentor)
This academic year marked the exciting launch of Mustang Mentors, a peer mentorship program designed to support first-year, second-year, and transfer students as they transition to the Hilltop. The program’s core goals are to recruit, engage, and retain students by fostering meaningful connections at the university.
In its inaugural year, Mustang Mentors matched 92 students, pairing mentees with peer mentors based on shared academic interest, professional goals and hobbies.
With over 351 conversations logged, mentors provided guidance on everything from course selections to involvement in student clubs to career planning. One sophomore mentor reflected on how participating in Mustang Mentors has positively impacted her connection to SMU, saying, “It has helped me feel more connected not only with my peers in Mustang Mentors, but also with communities outside of this program. I feel like it has inspired me to be more involved on campus.”
Mentees too benefitted academically and personally from their mentorship. One student shared, “I was confused about how to know what route I should take within the CCPA field, and [my mentor] has given me some guidance on how to know where I should go by exploring more in depth of each aspect and what I feel most interested in.”
Moving into the second year of the program, Mustang Mentors plans to deepen its impact:
Re-engaging current cohort members as returning mentors.
Expanding partnerships with departments like English, Film, History, and PREP.
Creating a Mustang Mentors Student Ambassador as a third tier of leadership.
Recruitment of incoming first-year and transfer students.
A special thank you to all faculty and staff who have played an essential role in program recruitment. We thank you for supporting this work and championing the program.
Know of a student that would serve as a great peer mentor? Email us at mustangmentors@smu.edu to recommend them!
Meet Sebastian and Tim – two Finance majors in the Cox School of Business and one of the first mentor-mentee pairs in the inaugural Fall 2024 Mustang Mentors cohort.
The Mustang Mentors Peer Mentoring Program pairs incoming first-year and transfer students with experienced peers who share similar academic and career interests. For Tim, a first-year student navigating the excitement and complexity of starting college, this connection provided him with guidance and opportunity.
After being matched in September, Tim and Sebastian realized they were in some of the same clubs. “After receiving an email from Mustang Mentors to join, I thought it would be cool to help someone out coming in as a freshman,” said Sebastian. “I really wanted to help someone through the things that I just went through.”
Tim discussed how the peer-to-peer model helped him define and set academic goals related to his major and career path. “When I first started the mentoring program last fall, I had a goal of getting an internship,” Tim said. “Sebastian helped me figure out what options were realistic, and I was able to ask questions about different programs and the different recruitment processes.”
Along with their mentorship being impactful academically, the benefits of the program extended beyond the classroom. Sebastian shared how being a mentor has helped him develop another component of his leadership style. “I know that I want to be able to lead by example. I don’t want to be someone who says don’t do ‘x’ but then I do ‘x’. Mentoring Tim has also built my managerial skills by being able to share my experience and guide him through this year.”
Both Tim and Sebastian emphasized the value of authentic connection and networking through mentorship. “A good way of formulating connections is by establishing a mentor-mentee relationship. This whole mentorship experience has taught me how to navigate relationships. I’m mentoring Tim right now, but maybe one day down the line, he might be working somewhere I want to be and might be able to reciprocate the mentoring relationship we have,” said Sebastian.
Tim echoed that “networking is super important. With Sebastian being my mentor, it opened me up to more information. Just having someone who has been through the process who can give tips and tricks about what you should do, or shouldn’t do, is helpful,” said Tim.
When asked about why a student should join Mustang Mentors, Sebastian said: “When you come to college, it’s a whole new world, and there is a lot being thrown at you at once. If you can have someone who’s already had it thrown at them and can give a digestible version of their experience, it’s super beneficial.”
Tim agreed, highlighting how welcoming Mustang Mentors is. “It can be hard to find a community when you come to college. This program is a good way to get to know someone in a way that feels less intimidating.”
Want to hear more inspiring stories like Tim and Sebastian’s? Discover the experiences of other students in the Fall 2024 Mustang Mentors cohort.
The Big iDeas program empowers students to transform their entrepreneurial ideas into impactful ventures. We recently caught up with Ryland Adzich, a first-year student at SMU who jumped into her co-curricular journey early — not only as a Big iDeas participant but also as an Engaged Learning Fellow. Ryland shared the inspiration behind her philanthropic organization and gave us a glimpse into the meaningful work she is implementing across the DFW metroplex.
In Fall 2024, Ryland was the top winner of the Big iDeas Pitch Competition, earning $1,000 from the Big iDeas Program, along with an additional $1,000 Boost Award from the Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership for having the “Most Inspiring Idea” of the competition. In the upcoming academic year, Ryland will serve as the President of the Women’s Innovative Network – a new student organization and network that empowers women to innovate, connect, and support each other in their entrepreneurial and research endeavors.
Q: You’re wrapping up your first year at SMU! Tell us about what why you chose SMU in the first place.
Being invited as a Dedman Scholar, it was nice to feel wanted by a community and wanted by SMU as much as I wanted them. The research opportunities with faculty as an undergraduate student was another big one. I also love Dallas. I love the community of people and the students here. I really feel like people are trying to work together to uplift students to succeed on a national and international level.
Q: What is the organization you started and what inspired the social impact element of it?
The Creative Destination is a philanthropic organization that works to create literacy spaces in underserved communities and in laundromats. Think books, shelves, and posters — essentially a mini library. The reason why we chose laundromats was because those can be everyday spaces to children. Many times, children are spending significantly more time in those “everyday spaces” than in the classroom. So if we can encourage reading and parent-to-child communications, that will increase success in and outside of the classroom.
While I was in high school, I worked with a professor at the NYU Steinhardt School of Education in one of my tech labs in school. She had introduced this idea about literacy spaces in laundromats on the East Coast, but I wanted to adapt that so it would make sense for The Creative Destination and underserved communities in California. I was already thinking about my idea before the tech lab, but seeing this on a smaller scale on the East Coast gave me inspiration to go through with it.
Q:Tell us about your recent partnership with The Creative Destination and The Hockaday School in Dallas?
The Hockaday School already has an Institute for Social Impact. I was interested in mentoring younger students but also getting feedback for The Creative Destination. I get to work with girls who are already interested in giving back to their community. If I can enhance that and help them hold on to that through having them help me build these literacy spaces in laundromats across the city, then that’s important to me.
Ryland speaking and doing an activity at The Hockaday School in Fall 2024.
Q: What has been the most rewarding part about starting your own philanthropic organization from the ground up?
Getting to work with other data-driven people has been very exciting. Also, getting to see the benefits to people that are frequenting these laundromat spaces. Whether that be customers, or laundromat owners seeing their spaces be improved by encouraging reading, I just go back to how important building community to me. Laundromats can be a great place of building community. You know, you’re sitting there for maybe anhour and a half waiting for your clothes to dry and maybe talking to people. Hopefully just a little bit of time every day to read instead of being on a phone or a tablet can encourage kids to keep reading.
Q: What have you been able to do with the award money you received from The Big iDeas Program?
That funding has been helpful because we have been able to fund 5 new literacy spaces in laundromats across the country. Four will be in Dallas and one will be in California. Some of the girls that I’m mentoring at The Hockaday School are helping me with the Dallas spaces. I’m hopeful for next year as I continue to establish myself more in Dallas to grow my laundromat network.
In the next three months, I hope to give The Creative Destination a fresh new look. I want to use some of the funding to do logo and media updates to prepare for the upcoming year. I highly recommend bringing your ideas to the Big iDeas Pitch Competition.
What advice would you give to a first year student, specifically a student in Dedman, who is wanting to build their business when they come to SMU?
I would say don’t box yourself into one set way to think about a business. Business principles can be applied to organizations, programs, and initiatives that are outside of a traditional business framework. Operating The Creative Destination as a business is something that I want to continue to work on. Also, I would encourage students to just have fun on campus. Time really does fly, so take stock and enjoy all of the resources on campus. It’s all at our fingertips and we can make so many different connections.
Interested in bringing your ideas to life? Learn more about Big iDeas and other opportunities through The Office of Engaged Learning by visiting our website.
The Office of Engaged Learning held its first Spring Big iDeas Pitch Competition on Friday, April 11, where 10 student teams pitched their new idea to a panel of judges in 90 seconds.
Congratulations to the four winners of the Spring 2025 Pitch Competition:
You might be wondering why the Office of Engaged Learning is hosting a Big iDeas Pitch Contest in the spring semester instead of the fall. We are excited to share what is changing and why!
As Big iDeas program continues to evolve, we’re expanding our collaboration across the SMU entrepreneurship ecosystem— including The SMU Impact Lab, The Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and others. These strategic partnerships are helping us refine our focus: supporting students at the earliest stages of ideation and positioning them to move forward with confidence. Our goal is to guide students in shaping bold new ideas and prepare them to pursue advanced funding and specialized coaching through these next-level programs.
We are also embracing a new model for our pitch competition cycle. Instead of offering only one opportunity per academic year to pitch an idea, students will now have the opportunity to pitch an idea once in the fall and once in the spring semester.
Additionally, we are moving the Big iDeas Business Plan Competition to SMU Family Weekend! This exciting new timing gives us a chance to showcase our most advanced student ventures to a wider audience — including families, alumni, and the full SMU community.
A special thanks to our judges for this competition: Jake Batsell, Justin Childress, Jennifer Ebinger, and Marissa Heyl and the SMU Impact Lab for sponsoring an additional $500 award to Focus Path for having a creative social impact edge on their idea.
To learn more about the Big iDeas Program, visit us at smu.edu/bigideas.
The best version of peer mentorship is built on mutual growth, authentic connection, and eventually, a formed friendship. Mustang Mentors pair Gracia Suppogu (’27) and Austin Toubassi (’28) exemplify just that.
They discuss in their recent interviewhow their mentor-mentee relationship began like many others in the program, but quickly deepened as they discovered shared interest outside of academics.
“When you’re matched with your mentee, you might know their major or what year they are,” Gracia explained. “But connecting with Austin over film and history has helped us form a more personal connection and even a friendship.”
Their experience reflects the benefits of mentoring as a high impact practice. Peer mentorship really is a two-way street. While Gracia was excited to offer guidance and support to Austin, she also gained fresh perspective on her own college experience through mentoring him.
“Not only am I able to teach Austin from my experiences, he has also taught me a lot about being a leader, a teacher, and building connection with others,” said Gracia.
Austin echoed those same sentiments, further emphasizing the value of peer-to-peer mentorship versus relying solely on faculty support. Having a peer mentor “is like having another student who is going through the same things that you are going through,” he said. “There is a lot more access to another student, and I think that’s the thing that I value the most. So I’d stress the importance of [peer mentorship] is about having another friend and getting the same resources that you’d get from a professor or professional without having the intimidation factor.”
Gracia and Austin’s mentorship journey embodies the heart behind the Mustang Mentors program – fostering connections that go beyond academic guidance to cultivate true friendship.
The start of April was a big one for SMU Big iDeas students, who showcased their ventures on two national stages of collegiate entrepreneurship.
At the ACC InVenture Prize Competition, hosted by the University of Notre Dame, the TIMIO News team – Josh Baier, Abbie Ellermeier, and JustusWoods – represented SMU as they pitched their venture alongside student teams from 12 other ACC universities.
Left to Right (Abbie Ellermeier, Justus Woods, Josh Baier)
Josh Baier (’24), CEO and Founder, said, “My favorite part of the ACC InVenture was meeting a community of young entrepreneurs. It was incredible to meet other people my age living through the same ups and downs of the entrepreneurship cycle.”
Abbie Ellermeier, Lead Designer, said, “My favorite part was seeing all the innovative ideas the other groups presented. It was so fun to be around so many bright, young minds all trying to make the world a better place.”
Justus Woods, Lead Campaign Manager, said he enjoyed “getting to meet so many world changers who wanted to make a positive impact in the world. Their creativity and perseverance was incredibly infectious.”
Back in Texas, Senior Jude Lugo and Junior Ryland Robb took the stage with 41 other finalist companies from all over the world at the TCU Values and Ventures Competition in Fort Worth to pitch LectureLogger, an app that tracks attendance and promotes student wellness for colleges and universities.
Left to Right (Ryland Robb, Jude Lugo)
Lecture Logger had an exceptional showing at the competition. After pitching in the lightning rounds, they advanced to place in the top quarter of participants over the weekend.
Judges praised the team’s strong engagement, confident delivery, and clear grasp of both the facts and the business model. The pitch was visually compelling, and both presenters brought a sharp, business-focused approach.
They also recognized Lecture Logger’s broad value for students – supporting wellbeing and academic success – and, interestingly, highlighted its specific relevance for student-athletes as a cost effective way to track attendance and ensure NCAA compliance.
A big congratulations to all of our Big iDeas students making their mark all across the country!
SMU Alumnus Joshua Baier (’24) and his team, Justus Woods and Abbie Ellermeier, are set to take the stage at the ACC InVenture Prize Competition on Wednesday, April 2nd.
To vote for TIMIO for the People’s Choice Award, text “SMU” to 415-965-7445. The voting will open at 12:01am on Monday, March 31st and will close approximately at 6:45PM CST on Wednesday, April 2nd.
The competition will begin at 6:00pm CST on Wednesday, April 2nd. To watch the competition live, use this link.
Download TIMIO today from the app store or as a Chrome extension!
Some of SMU’s best and brightest innovators are set to represent the Hilltop at the ACC InVenture Prize Competition this April – an innovation competition where undergraduate teams from each ACC university pitch their inventions or businesses for the chance to win $30,000 in prizes for their company.
This year, SMU will be represented by TIMIO News, a set of AI tools that identify fake news and recommend articles with different viewpoints, empowering users to navigate the news media landscape with confidence. The team is led by Founder and CEO Josh Baier ’24 (left), alongside Campaign Manager Justus Woods (middle), and Lead Designer Abbie Ellermeier (right). The team was selected after winning an internal SMU pitch-off at the beginning of January.
This year will mark SMU’s second year competing in the ACC InVenture Prize Competition. In 2024, SMU was represented by SteadiSpoon, founded by Raleigh Dewan (’23) and VP of Operations Mason Morland (’24).
Stay tuned to follow TIMIO’s journey as they represent SMU on a national stage! You can download TIMIO now as a mobile app or chrome extension. More details to come on how to stream the live event and vote for People’s Choice Team on Wednesday, April 2nd.
Meet Hayley and Fenix, one of the first mentorship pairs in the Mustang Mentors peer mentoring program.
Fenix, a freshman at SMU, arrived on campus in Fall 2024 excited to explore every opportunity to invest in herself. As an undecided major, she was looking for guidance from someone who had been in her shoes and shared her academic interest and goals. Who better than a peer?
After receiving an invitation to join Mustang Mentors, Fenix was matched with Hayley, a senior majoring in Applied Physiology and Sport Management. Initially, Hayley said, “I was so nervous to be a mentor, and then once I met Fenix and realized how much we had in common, I knew I could actually help her with the things she needed.”
Fenix’s academic and career interests ranged from business to advertising, marketing to communications, and everything in between – very similar to Hayley’s.
“When I would talk to Hayley about her experiences with applications to Advertising and to Cox, then making her shift to sports management, it gave me confidence to say ‘Okay, I’ll end up where I need to be at the end of the day. There is so much I can do at this school,'” said Fenix.
For Hayley, the leadership opportunity to be a mentor during her senior year came at the perfect time. When the program came across her email, she knew “this could be a good opportunity to keep me accountable and to also meet someone I would’ve never met in any other setting.”
Both Fenix and Hayley shared the impact of peer mentorship on their college experience. “Having a peer mentor is motivating — especially knowing you are not alone and that you can ask for help. It gives you a foundation to keep you grounded in yourself and make more friends,” says Fenix.
“Being on the other end of this as a mentor, it’s a good way to see where I’m at with my leadership skills. I’m not one to normally put myself out there for positions like this, so it’s an experience I wouldn’t have ever gotten without this program,” says Hayley.
Peer Mentorship Matters
Hayley and Fenix’s mentorship highlights the important role of peer mentorship at SMU. Click here to watch their brief interview on youtube!
Did you know that January is National Mentoring Month? Peer mentorship is a valuable high-impact practice that fosters personal and academic growth in college students by creating connections, a sense of belonging, and providing the guidance they need to be successful. The Mustang Mentors Peer Mentoring program, launched by The Office of Engaged Learning, is bringing peer-mentorship to life.
National Mentoring Month was created in 2002 by MENTOR and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to “amplify, encourage, and strengthen mentorship for young people.”
The goals of National Mentoring Month are to:
Raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms.
Recruit individuals to mentor, especially in programs that have waiting lists of young people
Promote the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting organizations to engage their constituents in mentoring
The Mustang Mentors program has an exciting semester ahead with cohort events and recruitment for the upcoming academic year.
Do you know a student who is looking for community or an opportunity to build their leadership skills? Encourage them to sign up to gain a mentor or become a mentor by visiting the Mustang Mentors website.
