• What do you do as peer mentors?
Elena: As peer mentors, we are matched up with mentees who sign up for the program and just try to make ourselves an asset to answer questions, listen to them, or help them reach their goals for the semester. Because many of the students sign up for the program because they want to connect with others and make friends within the major, we also plan events to let people in the program mingle and meet other students!
• How do students benefit from the peer mentor program?
Allison: Having a peer mentor can be a unique resource because they’re a student who has been in your shoes super recently. For example, if you’re applying to the major, your peer mentor can tell you about their experience as a student who just went through that. We hope that students benefit from the support, advice, and social connection the peer mentoring program provides.
• What is the goal of the peer mentorship program?
Elena: Our main goal is to foster belonging among students that are in the Communication Disorders major.
• Why did the program start?
Elena: The program started as an effort to reach out to students in underrepresented groups in the Communication Disorders major who may have had questions or just wanted a friend to support them, but it has since expanded to be open to anyone in the major who wants to be involved!
• Did you have a peer mentor? If so, how did they help you?
Allison: I had a peer mentor after I was accepted into the major. I wanted some advice about when to take different classes. It was helpful to hear from someone who had just taken the same classes themselves. More generally, it was also nice to feel like I always had someone in my corner cheering me on.
• What do you wish more people knew about the peer mentorship program?
Elena: That it can be low key! We want to help you in whatever way you want to be helped, if that is just attending events or having a friend or having someone to text questions to every once in a while, we can do that!
Check out the Peer Mentor website here for more information.