c) Mentorates

The mentorates are the heart of the community life in the DBH: While the offices and committees are primarily there to make sure that the administration and organization of the house works, the mentorates organize content events that are primarily there to connect the individual WGs with each other, to bring life and fun into the house or to support others in some way. If you have not been elected to a mentorate, but still want to organize an event that goes in the direction of a mentorate, be sure to discuss it with the mentorate, because they are responsible for organizing and coordinating events in that area, but of course everyone from the house is welcome to get actively involved in the life of the house.

If you need money for an event or an action, you should discuss it with Christine or Marion beforehand, so that you can calculate whether there is a personal contribution for the event and so that you can also collect an advance if you need it. To which of the two you have to go depends on whether it is a DBH or an ESG event:

The distinction between these two terms is sometimes a bit confusing, as they are also often used synonymously, even though this is not always entirely correct. Because DBH means the dormitory, so also only the people who live here in the house and have signed a lease. Christine is responsible for all these matters. However, if external people who do not live in the house but belong to the ESG, the congregation that is open to all, are allowed to come to your event, Marion is the contact person for the finances, and Michael or the volunteer are there for you if you have questions about the content. Whether you organize your event in-house or open it up to others is entirely your decision and depends largely on what you want to do: If you want to do a movie night or bake cookies in a smaller group, it is more advisable to do the event in-house, especially since most of the people already know each other. [1] For bigger events like a game night or the semester party it is more advisable if it is an ESG event. Furthermore, some mentorates (especially bar, cooking, music and game mentorates) like to be asked by Michael if they can organize an ESG event (like movie night, game night) or take care of the catering (cooking for a service, serving mulled wine at the Christmas party). Usually, though, most events are internal to strengthen the house community. If you still need help in any way, you can consider cooperating with a mentorate that fits the content (for example, if you want food, you can contact the cooking mentorate), if you need help with how something works (for example, in the kitchen or in the hall), you can contact the volunteer, who can often provide some valuable advice and who can also help you with the event. If you need any other help, just ask everyone in the house group, but it can also help if you approach individual people specifically because that is often much more convincing.

The advertising for the event usually also runs through the house group, but you can also send a mail in the house mail (hauspost@dbh-bonn.de), which then still has to be released by the FSJlerin.[2] If you want, the FSJlerin can still create a poster for your event and hang it up in the house, in addition, it will announce in the newsletter and in the case of an ESG event also put on the website.

The workload mentioned means exactly the same as above for offices and committees, so High is more than 10 hours per semester, Medium is 5 to 10, and Low is less than 5. Of course, this is all very subjective, and it depends mostly on how much effort you put in and want to put in. The suggestions of what you can do for events is also far from all you can do, but only serves as inspiration.

i) Excursion Mentorate (2).
Organizes excursions of all kinds.
Examples: You can do anything, for example sports (hiking in the Eifel, canoeing), culture (opera, theater, concert) or just something nice (Christmas market, bowling).
Workload: Low (you don't have to organize the event itself, but only the way to get there)

ii) Foreigners' Mentorate (2, one from Germany and one from abroad)
Takes care that our international students are well integrated into the house
Examples: International Tea Time with Michael, International Cooking, International Evening, etc.
Workload: Medium

iii) Bar Mentorate (6)
Takes care that the bar is in good condition, organizes bar rentals and the semester party, offers drinks at some ESG/DBH events, maybe more alcohol related events.
Examples: Except for the latter, the bar mentorate is committed to the stuff, otherwise she can offer beer tastings, the beer bachelor, cocktail evenings, etc.
Workload: High

iv) Roof Terrace/TV Room Mentorate (2)
Takes care of making sure both places are in good shape, so cleans up the TV room once in a while and gets the roof deck winterized or ready for summer, may also offer a social event on the roof deck
Examples: Mulled wine drinking on the rooftop patio, a larger activity to beautify the rooftop patio and TV room.
Workload: Low

v) Alumni Mentorate (2)
Does alumni outreach with Michael and the student assistent, i.e., the annual Christmas letter and an alumni reunion in the summer.
Examples: In addition to this, you can think about more actions to tie alumni more to the house, like tandems, but really it's mostly about the above.
Workload: Medium

vi) First semester mentorate (2 who are still living in the DBH in the next semester)
Organizes the Ersit activities and buddy program in the following semester so that our first-timers quickly feel comfortable and at home here.
Examples: Organization Ersti-dinner (only the first-year students among themselves), Ersti-Rallye (in which the first-year students explore the house and solve tasks in flats and other special places) with a meal for the whole house afterwards, supervision of Buddy Program (find buddies and give them contact of first-year students, maybe still there with advice and support), maybe still at the end of the semester an event to take stock after a semester DBH.
Workload: High

vii) Bicycle mentorates (2)
Takes care of the bicycle cellar, organizes repair meetings and mucks out old bicycles once a year, organizes bicycle tours
Examples: Bike tour to Christmas market, swimming lake, etc., workshops on most common bike repairs.
Workload: Medium

viii) Family Mentorates (2, one person from the family house, one from one of the other houses).
Organizes collaborative activities in which both families and people from the other houses can participate to better connect these groups with each other
Examples: Baking cookies, craft activities, face painting for children at summer festival, filling in for babysitting
Workload: Low

ix) Film Mentorates (2).
Shows movies, either in the hall or in the TV room, in nice weather also in the garden (depending on the time of day it might be a bit too bright), for this you can also use the popcorn machine in the kitchen.
Examples: In addition to the classic movie night, you could also organize a trip to the cinema or to the Silent Movie Festival Bonn, or a public viewing during a World Cup/the Euros.
Workload: Low

x) Photo Mentorates (2)
Takes photos at events and sends them to the office
Examples: The showcase in the side entrance can get new WG photos from time to time (the key for it is with Georg), you can also make a bigger photo wall somewhere and maybe design it artistically (as a tree or something) or offer a photo station at the Christmas party.
Workload: Low

xi) Breakfast Mentorates (4)
Takes care of the breakfasts every Tuesday during the lecture period together with the volunteer. There is a list in the side entrance with all the dates, where everyone from the house can sign up, but if there are not enough (2-3) people signed up on a Tuesday, then you have to prepare the breakfast, the shopping is usually done by the volunteer.
Examples: Of course you can also offer additional breakfasts, on weekends or during semester breaks, but the question is whether this is not too much. Otherwise, you can vary the Tuesday breakfasts, for example, it can be on the roof terrace or in the garden in the summer, you can make pancakes or a cereal bar etc.
Workload: High

xii) Garden Mentorates (2)
Takes care (together with the student assistent in the garden) that the garden is in good shape and carries out garden activities especially in spring and summer
Examples: Growing a wildflower meadow or fruits/vegetables, building insect hotels, taking care of the apple tree so you can make something from the apples (juice, pie, cider...).
Workload: In the winter semester low, in the summer semester medium.

xiii) Birthday Mentorates (2).
Creates a current birthday calendar and congratulates birthday children.
Examples: A birthday card in the mailbox should be the minimum, beyond that you can add sweets and maybe even decorate the birthday child's door with air bounces and balloons the night before (ask the call-on demand person or someone else from the WG to come in for this).
Workload: High (there are quite a lot of people having a birthday)

xiv) Cooking Mentorates (2)
Cooks at events or organizes own cooking events.
Examples: Running Dinner,[3] cooking classes (not only for freshmen, there are also sophomores who stopped at pasta and frozen pizzas), food in the dark, etc., but can also be simple cooking for Christmas party, church services, other ESG evenings
Workload: High (Michael is very eager to ask them for ESG events).

xv) Art Mentorates (2)
Organizes events where painting, crafts and pottery are done.
Examples: Upcycling, making artwork to beautify the foyer or WGs, making decorations for the summer party.
Workload: Medium

xvi) Music Mentorates (2)
Organizes a house concert (often an ESG event with a date already set) and other musical activities.
Examples: Founding and directing a DBH ensemble to perform at the house concert, Christmas party, summer party, karaoke night.
Workload: Medium

xvii) Neighborhood Mentorates (2).
Takes care of the neighborhood, that they don't hate us too much because of all the parties
Examples: Write a short letter at the beginning of the semester introducing yourself and giving your cell phone numbers so they can call you in case of loud parties (this mainly concerns the semester party) instead of directly calling the police, you can also do a neighborhood breakfast or invite the neighborhood to the summer party, but that doesn't quite work because they have little interest in us. Otherwise you can distribute something like Christmas/New Year greetings.
Workload: Low

xviii) Network Tutorship (4)
Takes care of the internet in the DBH, especially setting up routers for the first-year students, and participates in the network conference of the Bonn dorms.
Examples: Not so much beyond that, actually, because the interest in how routers work is rather low overall, but setting them up at the beginning of the semester keeps you on your toes already (but you will have WLAN everywhere in the house)
Workload: High

xix) Sharingmentorat (2).
Takes care of making sure the sharing shelf is in good shape,[4] and organizes events that revolve around sustainability in some way.
Examples: Clothes swap party, upcycling, etc.
Workload: Low

Games Mentorates (2).
Organizes game nights (these are also often part of the ESG program).
Examples: Casino night, Werewolf at campfire, Mister X throughout Bonn.
Workload: Medium

xxi) Sports Mentorates (2)
Organizes sporting events and participation in the BonnMarathon.
Examples: Cross-country games, visiting a sports field for soccer, basketball, table tennis, etc., organizing a running club for the marathon
Workload: Medium

xxii) Website Mentorates (2)
Takes care of the DBH website,[5] which requires knowing some HTML.
Examples: Primarily changing the deadline for submitting applications each semester, the rest actually stays pretty constant
Workload: Low