ABS Mentoring program

[Paradox]

So I was looking at the ABS website and I'm contemplating becoming a member.
I see they have a mentoring program. Does anyone here have knowledge or experience with the program?
What do you think? Is it worthwhile?


Thanks

 

[jk_lewis]

Anyone who can do it, ought to.

 

[rockm]

I participated in the program a few years ago. I mentored a beginner for six months or so. I think they found it worthwhile. I did.

The student sent me pictures of their trees. We discussed care and design and how to get there. They emailed me questions as they developed the material. It was a good give and take.

 

[jkd2572]

How do they choose the mentors?

 

[my nellie]

Do you have any updated info concerning the beginners part?
Do you have any link to share?
How can one participate in this program?

Thank you.

 

[JudyB]

Interesting sounding program. Is it geared more toward beginners, or do they match skill levels for continuing education?

 

[Poink88]

I participated in the program a few years ago. I mentored a beginner for six months or so. I think they found it worthwhile. I did.

The student sent me pictures of their trees. We discussed care and design and how to get there. They emailed me questions as they developed the material. It was a good give and take.

So it is not face to face.

It seems no more than posting the tree here though. You can get multiple answer as well. The advantage there is you are guaranteed to get an answer (but limited to the mentor's ability or one sided). I think I like forum more.

 

[Paradox]

@ Nellie and Judy, I have not tried the program but I know you need to be a member of ABS in order to participate. I don't know how they account for experienced students.

@Dario, I would have been surprised if it was face to face simply because ABS has members from all over. I would also guess that they have a limited number of people that are willing to be mentors. You would be very lucky to have someone close enough to you for a face to face.

I agree that it would seem to be very similar to just posting here, however one can not always be certain of the experience of the responder. RockM can confirm, but I would assume anyone approved by ABS to be a mentor would have to have some proven experience. It is one on one discussion and I would expect a certain amount of dedication by the mentor and the student alike considering the student is paying for the service.

It does seem a nice option for people who don't have the ability to do years of apprenticeship in Japan

 

[lackhand]

I've looked a this program before too and been curious. It seems like the main point would be to help those who do not have a decent club or experienced person nearby willing to help. It also seems highly variable depending on wh the mentor would be, and on the student as well. For those of us that don't like to follow instructions, a mentor might get a bit frustrated.

I am still curious though. There is so much to learn about bonsai that it seems like it couldn't really hurt anything.

This brings up an interesting thought though. Why can't the forums have a mentor program? If somebody with experience was assigned to each new person to help out until they get going, it might work pretty well. And all it would really require would be a commitment to commenting on threads by said newbie, and maybe an occasional PM to see how things are going. Does the whole idea of a forum make this unnecessary? Just a random thought.