Illinois Institute of Technology · Elevate Experiences
Empowerment, Leadership & Mentorship
A three-tier pathway. You start by learning to be mentored well — and only the final tier asks you to mentor someone else.
ELM is built on a simple conviction: we do not tell you who to become — we help you help yourself. Every tier below hands you a practice, not a script. What you do with it is the part that counts, and it is the part employers can hear in an interview.
The program supports positive change in academic performance, leadership, and the development of a conscientious community. It runs as three standalone Elevate experiences that stack. Each one earns its own badge, so finishing Tier 1 and stopping there still puts something real on your Elevate record.
Read This If ELM Has Ever Sounded Like Too Much
You Do Not Have to Mentor Anyone to Start
First- and second-year students told us ELM felt intimidating because it looked like mentor training and nothing else. That was fair, and the pathway has been rebuilt around it. Tiers 1 and 2 are about your own development as a mentee — how to find the right mentor, ask for what you need, take feedback without flinching, and follow through. Only Tier 3 asks you to sit on the other side of the table.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, so there is no cycle to wait for and no deadline to miss. The tiers are available to enrolled undergraduate Elevate participants — if you have not enrolled in Elevate yet, that is the on-ramp, and a career coach will walk you through it.
The Pathway at a Glance
Tier 1 · Mentee
ELM Foundations
Learn to be mentored well. 3–5 hours.
Badge · ELM-Practitioner
Tier 2 · Mentee
ELM Advanced
The harder conversations. 8–10 hours.
Badge · ELM-Specialist
Tier 3 · Mentor
Certified Peer Mentor
Step into the role. 15+ hours plus an oral exam.
Badge · ELM Certified Peer Mentor
Each tier is individually completable. Tier 3 is the culminating outcome, not the only valid one.
Every section below opens and closes. Nothing is hidden from you — open only what you need, and skip the rest.
1Tier 1 — ELM Foundations: Becoming an Effective Mentee
First-year or sophomore · 3–5 hours · no prerequisite · earns ELM-Practitioner▾
Before you can mentor anyone well, you have to learn how to be mentored well. Tier 1 introduces the research-backed core of the ELM framework — active listening, self-awareness, asking for support, and building authentic relationships with people who can guide your growth. It is designed for students who are new to mentorship and want the transferable skills employers consistently rank highest.
What You Will Learn
- How to identify what you actually need from a mentor
- Active listening and reflective dialogue fundamentals
- How to receive feedback without becoming defensive
- How to set goals with a mentor and follow through
- Self-awareness practices that make you coachable
How to Complete It
- 1Register for the next ELM Foundations cohort
- 2Attend the full foundational workshop
- 3Submit a brief reflection on your mentee goals
- 4Earn your ELM-Practitioner badge
Verification: workshop attendance tracking plus an ELM-issued completion record. Next step in the pathway: Tier 2 — ELM Advanced.
2Tier 2 — ELM Advanced: Mentee Mastery and Specialized Growth
First-year or sophomore · 8–10 hours · requires ELM-Practitioner · earns ELM-Specialist▾
Tier 2 takes the foundational skills from Tier 1 and deepens them through specialized coaching in a smaller group. You work on the harder parts of being a great mentee: having difficult conversations with a mentor, navigating those relationships in professional settings including internships, acting on critical feedback, and recognizing when a mentoring relationship needs to change. You come out of it able to plug into a mentor’s support system on day one of an internship rather than week six.
What You Will Learn
- Advanced active listening and reflective dialogue
- Navigating power dynamics with mentors and supervisors
- Internship readiness: how to be mentored in a professional environment
- Using feedback as a development tool rather than a verdict
- Specialized coaching applied to your specific career goals
How to Complete It
- 1Hold the ELM-Practitioner badge
- 2Register for ELM Advanced specialized training
- 3Complete all required workshop sessions
- 4Submit your applied practice log
- 5Earn your ELM-Specialist badge
Verification: workshop participation plus an ELM-issued completion record. Next step in the pathway: Tier 3 — ELM Certified Peer Mentor.
3Tier 3 — ELM Certified Peer Mentor: Step Into the Mentor Role
Sophomore and above · 15+ hours plus an oral exam · requires ELM-Specialist▾
This is where you cross over from being mentored to mentoring. Certified Peer Mentor is the capstone of the pathway — a research-backed certification that prepares you to support fellow Illinois Tech students through structured peer mentorship. You demonstrate mastery of the ELM principles, pass an oral certification exam, and receive a formal letter of certification signed by the ELM Founding Director.
Certified Peer Mentors are prioritized for paid peer mentor roles, RA positions, SGA leadership, and Orientation Leader positions. An exam and a capstone mean the certification is assessed, not merely attended — which is why it reads as a qualification on a resume where a participation line does not.
What You Will Demonstrate
- Mastery of the ELM principles: active listening, active coaching, building community, and healthy vulnerability
- Ability to facilitate peer-to-peer support sessions
- Mentor-level self-awareness and professional ethics
- Ability to mentor across difference
How to Complete It
- 1Hold the ELM-Specialist badge
- 2Complete the full ELM training program
- 3Pass the oral certification exam
- 4Receive your formal letter of certification
- 5Earn the ELM Certified Peer Mentor badge — the highest credential in the pathway
Certified mentors work under regular supervision and keep documented progress notes. That is what makes this a professional credential rather than a volunteer shift — and it is what gives you something concrete to describe in an interview years later.
4How the Badges Stack — and Why Stopping Early Still Counts
Three standalone experiences, one credential, credit at every step▾
Each tier is published as its own Elevate experience and earns its own badge. A student who finishes Tier 1 and goes no further still has something real on their Elevate transcript — that is deliberate. Partial completion is recognized rather than written off, because the alternative is a program only the already-confident attempt.
What Each Badge Says About You
ELM-Practitioner — you know how to be coached. You can name what you need, hear feedback, and act on it. Employers read that as low-friction onboarding.
ELM-Specialist — you can hold a difficult conversation with someone who has authority over you and keep the relationship intact. That is rarer than it sounds.
ELM Certified Peer Mentor — an assessed credential, issued with a formal letter, that says you can develop other people. That is a management behavior, and it is unusual on an undergraduate resume.
Where to Start
If you are a first-year or sophomore, start at Tier 1 — it is short, it has no prerequisite, and it is the tier that makes everything after it easier. If you are already mentoring somewhere on campus and want the credential, talk to a coach about the fastest route through.
Register on the ELM program site →cohort dates, workshop scheduling, and the applicationBook a career coach →we will map the tiers onto your Elevate plan and your graduation timelineAlumni Mentorship Program →be mentored while you train — Tiers 1 and 2 are far easier with a live relationship to practice on
5Why Employers Read This as Leadership
The resume line, and the interview question it answers▾
Mentoring requires you to hold a confidential conversation, diagnose a problem the other person has not fully articulated, resist solving it for them, and follow up on a schedule when nothing is forcing you to. Those are management behaviors, and most people do not encounter them until their second or third job.
Weak Line vs. Strong Line
Weak: Peer mentor, ELM program. Helped students with academics.
Strong: ELM Certified Peer Mentor — completed a three-tier mentorship pathway, passed an oral certification exam, and hold a formal letter of certification. Mentored [N] students across [terms]; maintained documented progress notes under regular supervision and contributed to monthly practice-review meetings.
Nearly every behavioral interview includes some version of “tell me about a time you helped someone who was struggling” or “describe a time you influenced without authority.” ELM students answer those from experience while their competition answers from a group project. Pick one relationship where progress was slow, describe what you changed, and name the outcome.
The mentee tiers carry their own answer, and it is one hiring managers rarely hear well: tell me about a time you received hard feedback. Most candidates describe the feedback. A Tier 2 student describes what they did with it.
Full Program Details Live on the University Site
Requirements, workshop scheduling, the syllabus, and the application are all maintained at iit.edu/elm. Start there — it is the authoritative source, and it is where cohort dates are posted.
Program questions: elm@illinoistech.edu
Make the Credential Count
Earning the badge is half of it. A coach will help you turn mentoring into resume language and build interview stories out of your real cases — free and year-round, whether or not you are enrolled in Elevate.
elevate@illinoistech.edu · MTCC Suite 106 · 312.567.6800
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