Business Career Services, Seneff Scholars join forces in career-building mentorship initiative

Students from the 2025 Seneff Scholars cohort, seen here with leaders of the Seneff Honors Program and Business Career Services, will help fellow students navigate their academic careers and achieve professional readiness and success.Click to enlarge

Florida State University’s newly named Herbert Wertheim College of Business has taken another transformative step in student development and support, announcing the launch next month of the Seneff Scholar Peer Coaching and Mentoring Initiative.

The initiative features a cohort of 20 elite students from the college’s James M. Seneff Honors Program to help fellow students navigate their academic careers and achieve professional readiness and success. 

College officials say the program aims to benefit all involved: Mentored students will receive networking tips, industry insights and career strategies, for example, and at the same time, Seneff Scholars will enhance leadership, communication and coaching skills for their own future careers. 

The college begins the program as it celebrates its move into the Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence (formerly Legacy Hall), its new, world-class building at the Southeast corner of FSU’s campus. Classes start Jan. 7, a day after the college hosts a public ribbon-cutting and grand opening. 

Seneff Scholar Luke Sherwood, a management and marketing major, says the new program "creates a necessary space" for key conversations among students.

“I’m really excited about the initiative, and I would have loved it as a freshman,” said Luke Sherwood, a 2025 Seneff Scholar and rising junior who will serve as one of the mentors. “Students already rely on each other a lot for guidance, and this program creates a necessary space for those conversations and relationships to form.” 

The initiative is a product of the Wertheim College’s Business Career Services and Seneff Honors Program. Business Career Services offers students career coaching and personalized assistance; promotes jobs and internships; connects students to alumni and companies; and emboldens students to engage in numerous programs, activities and resources in the college -- all designed to guide them in securing fulfilling careers. The Seneff Honors Program, a collaboration of the college and the University Honors Program, offers top business students priority access to honors courses, special meetings with elite business leaders, a mentorship program and unique experiential learning opportunities. 

The peer coaching and mentoring initiative adds another option to multiple opportunities the college has created to help students succeed, such as the Business Living Learning Community for first-year students. 

Renata Roldao, the Christopher Iansiti Director of Business Career Services, said the new initiative aligns with research that trumpets the benefits to students of peer support. A 2024 study in the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education concluded that effective peer mentoring supports students’ self-confidence and self-esteem and “could have various interrelated enhancements on student academic experience and performance.” 

Roldao points out that research also shows benefits to students in academic performance, retention rates and satisfaction.  

“Peer mentoring and coaching are essential components of a holistic educational experience,” she said. “By investing in peer-to-peer relationships, we are laying the groundwork for a future generation of business leaders who are not only academically proficient but also socially responsible and community-oriented.” 

Roldao and her partners in the initiative – Luke Hopkins, director of the Seneff Honors Program, and Hannah Gismondi, associate director of Business Career Services operations – emphasize the mutual benefits to students and their mentor peers.  

Seneff Scholar Christianna Ford, a marketing and public relations major, says the new program will help her gain perspective "on the next steps in my career beyond FSU."

Seneff Scholars do likewise. They add that they’re eager to share wisdom from their own coaches and mentors. 

“This program will push me to grow beyond what I already know,” said Christianna Ford, a 2025 Seneff Scholar and rising junior. “I feel it will make me more well-rounded and push me to have some perspective on the next steps in my career beyond FSU.” 

Sherwood, who is majoring in management and marketing, said the program will inspire him to reflect on his own goals “while continuing to grow as a communicator, professional and leader.” 

Each semester, Ford, Sherwood and other Seneff Scholars will spend more than 900 hours, or 45 hours per mentor, guiding their peers. Individual scholars will declare their availability each week, giving student peers opportunities to book time with them.  

“I want to do whatever I can,” said Ford, who is majoring in marketing and public relations. “I hope I can give valuable support and feedback where it matters most.” 

-- Pete Reinwald