Guiding the mentor-mentee relationship with 'pesanan keramat' / Nurul Huda Izzati Jamil

Every semester, the lecturer cum academic advisor is expected to hold a mentor-mentee meeting with their mentee as a means to reach out to students and communicate with them about a myriad of all things both related to academics and also matters related to their campus life not necessarily involves academic matters directly. This meeting was held on 27th October 2023, Friday, 11.00 am, at block K. This meeting was communicated as compulsory to attend. Still, to maximize attendance, as an academic advisor, I took the extra effort to order some delicious packed food (chicken rice and soft drinks) and made it clear that only those who attended the meeting could enjoy these delicacies (called delicacies because these are free after all), mentors did not require to pay for the meal. They have to come and join the meeting. I started the session with welcoming greetings since they have just come back for the new semester (currently semester 4); there were small talks like how they were doing, how the holiday was going for them, and whether the duration of the semester sufficient to get them some rest, etc. These questions usually would get them excited, and I would hear many interesting and creative answers, including mischievous ones like wanting to extend the semester break duration (not enough holiday) they said, enjoying their semester break with “sleep and eating activities,” but some students mentioned that they did the part-time job to earn extra income which I managed to compliment. As for those who wish to extend their semester break, I said you guys can go for a more extended break once you graduate on time.