Mentor Profile: John Fitton
John Fitton is a Palo Alto resident with more than 38 years of public service in California. He worked as a college administrator at multiple universities, including UCLA, Santa Clara, San Diego State, and Southern Oregon University. In his various professional roles at the college level, he acted as counselor, advisor, and mentor for first-generation and low-income students. In addition to his work in higher education, John also served as the chief executive officer of the San Mateo County Superior Court in California for many years.
John’s children attended Palo Alto High School and he has been volunteering with Rise Together Education (RTE) for more than four years.
Q: Can you tell us more about your background?
A: I got my masters in psychology counseling and later worked at Santa Clara University as a counselor and in student services. After Santa Clara, I worked for several other schools, including Southern Oregon University, where I specialized in student support services. Altogether, I spent roughly 22 years in higher education.
In addition to my roles at universities, I also worked for the Superior Court of California for 20 years, retiring as their CEO in 2015.
Q: What was your work like with California students in your professional career?
A: During my years in higher education, I worked with a variety of students, including first-generation students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and student athletes. I’ve always tried to support students and provide them with the resources they need to succeed.
Q: How did you get involved with RTE?
A: I was introduced to RTE by my friend, Grainger, who is also a mentor. Grainger explained what his work consisted of at RTE and encouraged me to become a volunteer. I’ve now been involved with RTE for more than four years.
Q: How many students do you mentor?
A: I am currently mentoring 27 students. I work with both students who attend two-year colleges and students who attend four-year colleges. As of now, I have eight four-year college students and 19 two-year students.
Q: How often do you speak/meet with your students?
A: I speak with some of my students, over text or on a call, as often as a couple of times a week. I talk to my first-year students more often, because they sometimes have a harder time navigating their new colleges. In general, RTE asks mentors to check in with students every two to three months, but I speak with my students as often as they want to or need to talk. It really depends on the student.
Q: In what ways have you helped your students?
A: Areas where my students have needed support include navigating financial aid, obtaining housing, using their own agency, solving difficult situations, and handling mental health concerns in a new environment.
Q: What situations are challenging for your students? How do you help them?
A: Many of the students we work with do not have a family support system or any siblings who have gone to college. In situations like these, I try to provide advice on topics such as finding the best financial resources and how to achieve healthy living habits. Some youth are entirely on their own and some have different commitments to their families, such as having to bring in a certain income while attending school. Family expectations and levels of support can vary from student to student. To help navigate these challenges, I try to provide my students with a safe environment to ask questions and learn.
Q: Do mentors work together? How?
A: Yes, all the RTE mentors work together as a team. The mentors share the desire to help their students and give them agency. The mentors work with students together to provide them with a social network of support. We have meetings where we share stories of recent work with students and talk about any problems or challenges our students have encountered. We make sure to keep our students’ names anonymous when we are addressing certain issues. The mentors get together every month or every other month. These meetings are beneficial to all the mentors because we can learn things from other mentors and act as a support team to better aid our students.
Q: What is your favorite thing about mentoring?
A: I learn a lot from my students and I love to hear their stories of courage. My favorite thing about mentoring is listening to what students have to share about their experiences so that I can engage better with my students.
Q: Does being a parent of kids who went to college help you with your RTE work?
A: Absolutely. I have two kids who are both in their 20s now. I learn from them and that helps me mentor my RTE students. If I had one word that describes what RTE mentors do best it would be “listen.”