by Sam Ogren
My caffeine habit takes about $6 out of my pocket most mornings, bumped up to $8 when my student interns are working in the office. Gas for the commute to meet them face-to-face is another $12 or so, round-trip. There is the extra time spent catching up on client work, planning the next project phase, and doing assessments. Day after week after month through a long semester, I watch as the emotional and fiscal balance tilts one direction. But when the project is finished and plaudits are given, I understand what MasterCard means when they say, “Priceless.”
Everything has a cost. Money, time, extra effort, and stress; even our vacations cost more than dollars and cents when we return to 200 unread emails in our inboxes. When the topic of mentorship comes up, we immediately think of the costs that come with guiding a student or young professional just starting their career. The cost of time and travel, along with the extra effort of reviewing portfolios and providing feedback, can seem overwhelming. Your schedule is busy, so why set aside the extra time? Why stretch your budgets for funding to attend work sessions, seminars, and capstones? Because every second and every dollar spent is an investment in our industry’s future.
Creating a future for our industry depends on creating a sustainable pathway for young people to learn about and grow into the roles we will leave behind. As a community of big thinkers, we look for a big fix, but it is the daily action—the local efforts and personal moments—that will build into the sustainable workforce we need. If we want to have an industry for the future, we can take inspiration from the daily actions we do for our planet: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Reduce time and costs by creating programs with local schools and universities, making visits efficient and effortless. Community connections will repay themselves many times over.
Reuse old projects to give relevant experience to interns and trainees without risking current workflows. You can find new value and perspectives in your old work.
Recycle the experience with other schools and students, adapting to new needs, extending the lifespan, and expanding the reach of your efforts.
Still, the cost of mentoring is more than what comes out on balance sheets and data reports. Mentors are teachers, role models, and confidants. Mentorships are relationships built through emotional labor, which incurs an emotional cost. There is stress from extra work, from an added role, from worrying if you are doing “good enough.” But can you imagine what it means for the young person to have someone with your experience and knowledge teaching them? Someone devoting their time and energy, honestly caring about their future? As much as they need us to teach them to grow into their new roles, they also need us to care for them to grow as people. The emotional and intangible benefits are not limited to the growth of the student. Across the office, I see increased collaboration, new ideas, and fresh perspectives from my co-workers after they interact with and observe the interns. When I get a LinkedIn request, an employer reference check, or a resumé from a past student, the feeling of pride cannot be measured—not in dollars, miles, or hours.
Mentorship is an opportunity to pay it forward with expertise and empathy. Mentorship is how we can welcome and grow our future workforce. It’s an investment in the industry and the people who will take it forward. This is where you will find future leaders and encourage them to reach greater heights. Mentorship is how we build the industry we want to see and the legacy we want to leave behind. That is worth it, no matter what the cost.
Sam Ogren is the senior marketing specialist at Access TCA, where he runs an annual semester-long exhibit design internship program for local high school students and contributes his thoughts on future workforce development to the Access TCA blog.
This story originally appeared in the Q1 2026 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 80. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/exhibit_city_news_-_jan_feb_mar_2026/80.
