Randy Adamsick, left, and Chris Yocum —Photo: Tom Foley

Chris Yocum knows he got lucky in his first try in the College of Liberal Arts Alumni Society mentor program. “I can’t imagine someone being a better match for me,” he says of Randy Adamsick (’76), former executive director of the Minnesota Film Board. “It was perfect serendipity.”

Adamsick himself, “had a really, really good experience,” he says. “It was something I had always wanted to do, and it far exceeded all my expectations.”

Adamsick and Yocum, a psychology and film studies double major originally from Rochester, Minnesota, went to a lot of movies and spent a lot of time talking about movies. But Adamsick says he also “made sure to guide the conversations toward the question: how do you turn that love of film into something that might become a career? [College] was a time in my life when I really wish I’d had a mentor. It wasn’t until my 30s that I realized it was possible to make my avocation my vocation.”

Adamsick, who is currently weighing his own career options, gave Yocum a dose of real experience by having him select film clips for a tribute to film producer and Minnesota native Sarah Pillsbury. “He did a terrific job,” Adamsick says. “I think I used every one of his clips.” Yocum took that assignment seriously and was glad to see it pay off. “I especially remember a scene I thought would be a perfect ending,” he says. “Randy used it right at the end. That was nice seeing my work was actually valuable.”

For Yocum, who will graduate next year, participating in the mentor program was part of taking advantage of many different opportunities in his last few years of school. Two years ago he studied in Milan, Italy, and last year, in addition to the mentor program, he began writing film reviews for the Minnesota Daily, something Adamsick encouraged. “He said, ‘Throw all your brands in the fire and one of them will catch,’” Yocum says. “[Randy’s] shown me that there is going to be a job for you somewhere…. You can do what you love.”

The CLA mentor program is one of 16 programs organized through the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s Mentor Connection. Programs typically run from fall until shortly before the end of the school year. Although the Mentor Connection provides events and tips for both mentors and students, the participants work out the details of when, where, and how often to meet.

by Chris Coughlan-Smith


for more info on being a mentor, contact Judy Anderson at 612-626-0425 or visit www.umaa.umn.edu.