The semester flew by! I mentioned in some of my other blogs that at the beginning of the semester, I did not feel prepared at all to be a peer mentor. Now that the semester is coming to an end, I feel a lot more prepared! I do not know why but I have always felt like my peer mentors from the past knew everything. I probably thought this because they were well prepared, organized, and older. The main thing that I got from the past and returning peer mentors was that it is ok to not know everything and you will not be prepared for every situation that comes up.
Peer mentors are meant to be liaisons for the Hixson program and the University. We are equipped to know which situations we can handle and which ones we need to ask for help with. We now know how to refer others to resources that can help them a lot more than we could. In the fall, I will use the information given to us from this semester to handle situations and to make the class fun and informative.
The past peer mentors brought to light something that I have not considered before, every class is different. The class will be made up with different individuals with an array of personalities. I am very excited to see who will be in my section in the fall and I am probably just a little bit more excited to see who I will be co-leading with!
I can't get over how we're already at the end of the year! I don't know when it happened, but at some point I think we all went from scared, a little clueless to prepared and excited for the fall! Along with you saying how each class will be different, I really liked hearing about Megan's two experiences at peer mentoring just to hear about how working with different co-leaders changes things. The panel also made me more excited as we are now that much closer to finding out our co-leaders and meeting our students.
ReplyDeleteLiz,
ReplyDeleteI have always seen my mentors as a "bucket full of knowledge". The part I appreciated the most is that they were always willing to help, no matter the situation. If they did not know the answers to questions I asked, they pulled in their resources. I think this is the part I will have most difficulty with - not knowing all the answers. I am always hard on myself, so not knowing the answers to all questions will be really hard for me. It is difficult for me to comprehend, but it WILL happen. However, with a great support group around me it will hopefully become easier as time goes on!
See you Thursday!
McKaila v.