A peer mentor can be a very important role in anyone's life whether they be a first year student or a senior because at times, everyone needs a little guidance. Being a peer mentor is an important job to me because I know that next semester there will be students relying on me to help them when they are feeling stressed, tired, and wanting to give up. As an aspiring teacher I hope that I can take the experiences I have with this program and use the knowledge I gain from them in order to help me help my students succeed.
Some of the strengths I feel that I have for this position include my open-mind, life experience, and time management skills. My open-mind will be a gift for me in this program because I know that I will be meeting with students from a range of personalities, backgrounds, and lifestyles. Having an open-mind will allow me to put my own feelings aside so I can learn from my students about who they are and where they are going in life. My life experiences is a big strength for me because I have experienced rough times in my life and now I go to school full-time, work full-time, and pay for school with academic scholarships I need to work hard to keep. Lastly, my time management skills is something I am proud of because over time I have developed a system that works very well for me, although it does include 3 calendars, a planner, and 2 to-do lists it works wonders for my busy lifestyle!
One weakness I really hope to focus on and improve is my patience because I am a very detail oriented person so when I meet more laid back "just wing it" kind of people it is hard for me to not push them in hopes that they will be more motivated. To work on this I plan to get to know my students well in order to develop individual methods of motivation because all of my students will be unique in their learning styles.
This role could bring me many challenges, one of which will be building that connection with my students I hope to have. I feel that being a peer mentor to a student should be an important relationship for both mentor and mentee. If my students aren't comfortable with me then it would be hard for them to really open up and discuss the problems they are facing. My main focus is to help my students feel comfortable both in college and in the SSS program because it is a very beneficial program.
I like that you mentioned that everyone can use mentoring at a time. This is true even though many people would not like to admit it, its a strong point!
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