Volunteer

The AAVSO is an organization that thrives with the work of dedicated observers and other volunteers. New and ongoing projects at the AAVSO need people to make them happen. If you’re looking for ways to contribute to the AAVSO, please consider helping with one or more of these important projects!

Mentorship

The Mentor Program pairs novice AAVSO members with experienced observers who help teach observing techniques, tools, methods, etc., as well as give advice on target selection and interesting projects to pursue.

The Program is carried out entirely by volunteers who teach members who observe visually, or digitally (via CCD, CMOS or DSLR), how to do everything from printing comparison star charts, to reducing data and reporting their findings to the AAVSO.

Mentors may connect mentees with active AAVSO observers near them. More often, though, mentoring happens remotely via email, Zoom/Google Meet, and phone calls. From a simple chat to more hands-on training with an experienced observer, mentors aim to provide members with the feedback they need to continue progressing as AAVSO observers.

How to Become a Mentor

If you are an experienced observer (visual, CCD, CMOS, DSLR, or PEP) and are interested in volunteering your time and expertise to help new observers, we can certainly use your help! Just contact Sebastián Otero, the Mentor Program coordinator.

Our Mentor Program is one of our most valuable services, as novice observers greatly benefit from the advice of their more experienced peers. Therefore, we greatly appreciate the effort and time our mentors put into interacting with their mentees. Becoming a mentor is definitely worth your time, as it helps create new AAVSO observers who will remember your guidance as they continue their observing journey.

If you’ve never been a mentor before, there are a few things you need to know to make it a worthwhile experience for both parties. Below are some guidelines to ensure that you have an understanding of what activities are expected from our mentors, in order to provide the necessary assistance to mentees.

Mentors Best Practices

First, discuss and define with your mentees what their goals are. Do they need to understand their instrument? Their observing mode? How to acquire data? What types of stars can they observe? Exposure times? This will help both of you plan and reach your goals within a reasonable time period.

After agreeing to work with a mentee, please make sure you are accessible to answer their questions on a regular basis. If you communicate by email, please get back to them within 2-3 days from their latest correspondence. (Please check your spam folder—some emails get lost this way). If you meet in person or virtually, perhaps every week would suffice. Mentees frequently lose interest when they do not receive prompt responses to their inquiries, so your active participation is really important!

The above recommendation also applies to the Mentor Program coordinator messages. It is important to get a prompt reply from you about your availability in order to coordinate the program effectively.

Please keep in contact with your mentee. A rule of thumb would be, if you don’t receive a response to your email within a couple of weeks, drop them a note to assess if they need further assistance. Some individuals give up after only a couple of interactions with their mentors. To curtail this trend, they need encouragement to overcome the steep learning curve. Mentoring is about finding a balance between providing guidance and encouraging mentees to continue their work.

It is important to have personal experience (not just interest) in the subject you choose to mentor individuals in, so you can adequately answer the new observers’ questions. If you feel your mentee asks for help in an area you do not have direct experience in or you are uncertain how to respond, please get in touch with the Mentor Program coordinator. He can help you find a specific answer or to suggest a different mentor for the individual. We want this to be a positive experience for both parties, and would like to use your time as efficiently as possible.

Please let us know how many mentees you are comfortable mentoring at the same time. We appreciate you taking the time to mentor AAVSOers, and we want to be mindful of your time. We try to avoid assigning more than one or two mentees to the same mentor, but at times we may lack available mentors with the appropriate knowledge.

By participating in any AAVSO activity, you agree to abide by our Non-Discrimination and Non-Harassment Policy. Your participation indicates that you have read, understood, and accepted these guidelines.