1-Guiding Students

I think my role as a peer mentor is as a sort of guide for students. Mentor help a student refocus their efforts, we help them realize these experiences are at least somewhat normal during the first year. I think that I have a good amount of experience helping students academically due to my other job (tutoring) and with that I know resources for them and how to talk a student down from the cliff of stress and anxiety that they've created. This comes easily to me because I've struggled a lot with making sense of the problems that come with the "University" setting. Distance. Lack of support. More school work than ever before. The feeling that you don't belong here. The second guessing. Helping students avoid these problems is almost second nature now because I've had to tell so many that these feelings are normal during weekly sessions.

I struggle more with keeping a safer distance from students. I've realized that it's hard for me to not want to be their friend when I know I can't. I'm really trying to get a better grasp on drawing that line between buddies who meet occasionally and a sort of authority. It's getting a little easier though as time goes on--I'm noticing the larger gaps in knowledge and how student want a support rather than a new pal. They usually have plenty of friends and not enough support.

Challenges seem a little bit harder to predict, I know those first few weeks I will be nervous and too excited for my own good. It'll be interesting to see how students react to that. I think gaining a students trust and becoming another reliable part of their university life is going to be essential to the process. Through this sort of trust I hope that students will gain confidence in themselves because once they have that it'll be more difficult for students feel the effects of the first year here-- in this new environment.