April 1, 2026 • 50 mins
Colleges and universities work to provide students with the support they need to thrive – both in the classroom and out. From professors, advisors, tutors, and librarians to counselors, resident directors and student activity personnel, most colleges are staffed by professionals and experts in all areas. But there’s another source of support for students that may be too often overlooked – that provided by their peers. In this episode, Sarah and Vicki talk about the many ways that peer support can help students – sometimes even more than professional support. We examine the types of support available, why it can make a difference, and also why some students might want to become peer tutors, advisors, teaching assistants, or residence assistants. If you’re a parent, you’ll leave with concrete ways to encourage smart help-seeking and ideas for campus roles your student can pursue.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already incollege, this podcast is for
you.
You'll find food for thought andinformation about college and
about navigating that delicatebalance of guidance,
involvement, and knowing when toget out of the way.
(01:32):
Join your hosts as they sharesupport and a celebration of the
amazing experience of having achild in college.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
This is the podcast where wetalk about all kinds of things
that have to do with being theparent of a college student, or
the parent of a high schoolstudent thinking about going to
college, or the parent of astudent who's stepping out of
college.
All of those things.
(02:05):
And we cover it both from ourprofessions and from having been
parents.
Well, we having been, we stillare parents, but having been
parents of college students.
My name is Vicki Nelson, and Iam a professor of communication.
So I work with college studentsevery day.
(02:27):
And I am also the parent ofthree daughters who have all
gone to college.
So I have lived through thisphase of feeling overwhelmed by
college.
And I am here today with one ofmy co-hosts.
I'd say one of my favoriteco-hosts, but I say that for
every co-host.
Sarah Shane.
(02:47):
So I'm going to let herintroduce herself.
SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
Sure.
Thank you so much, Ricky.
So I'm Sarah Shane.
I'm the director of the Officeof Advising and Academic Success
at a small liberal arts college.
I've been there for about 10years and in academic advising
for, oh, too many to count, over25.
We don't have to revealeverything.
That's probably too many tocount.
(03:10):
And I also am the parent of onecollege graduate, two sons, one
who's graduated and is now in uhworking full-time and in a
part-time master's program, andthen um another son who's a
sophomore in college.
Um so I very much appreciate allaspects of this process.
SPEAKER_02 (03:31):
So it's the same thing as when Lynn is here, um,
and she has the boys and I havethe girls.
And you have the boys and I havethe girls.
So we've we've kind of seen itall.
Um so one of the things wewanted to talk about today um is
peer-to-peer support.
Uh I think, you know, when wesend our students away to
(03:51):
college, we're worried aboutwho's going to take care of
them, who's going to supportthem, who's going to help them,
who's going to do all of thosethings.
And any any college anywhere isjust full of professionals who
can do that, uh, who can takecare of their health, their
mental health, their academics,their social, you know,
(04:12):
everything.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
All the things.
All the things.
SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
But in addition to that, um, there are some
peer-to-peer supports that arereally helpful.
And I think I think there are acouple of things to to think
about as we m talk about this.
And the first is that what we'reseeing, um, and I'm sure Sarah,
you see it too, is that studentstoday really often have a lot of
(04:38):
trouble asking for help.
Absolutely.
They they have this feeling thatbeing independent, because we
keep telling them now you'regoing to college, you're
independent, and all, but thatthat means you have to do
everything on your own.
And and so asking for help isreally hard when they need it.
And they're especially afraid ofasking professors and asking
(05:01):
some of the professionals.
SPEAKER_01 (05:02):
Certainly.
I think, and and I thinkdepending on, you know, kind of
the culture that um students areraised in, some might feel, you
know, not and not that theyshould at all, but that asking
for a sign of help is aweakness, which of course it is
not at all.
And one of the things we saytill we're black and blue is
that, you know, asking for helpwill only, you know, increase
(05:24):
your chances for success andopen you up to all the
resources.
And we are happy to help onevery level.
We just need to know if you havequestions.
Right.
But yes, I think students are umis often, especially first year
students and incoming students,um nervous around faculty and as
well as staff.
(05:44):
Um, but I think yes, having theother options we'll chat about
tonight makes opens up a wholeother world of opportunities.
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
Yeah, and we actually have a separate um
podcast episode just on helpseeking and that.
So we'll link to that in theshow notes.
So here we have these studentswho often are afraid or reticent
to ask us for help.
Um, but they are often morecomfortable connecting with a
peer.
(06:11):
And so that can be a wonderfulthing for them on on many levels
and in many areas because umthere they will ask questions
that they might not ask us andthey will seek help.
The problem sometimes is thatsome parents worry that let's
(06:31):
take tutoring just as anexample.
My student needs a tutor.
I want I want my student workingwith a professional tutor.
I don't want him him or her, Idon't I don't want them just
working with another studentbecause it's not going to be as
good.
Um, but as we'll talk about aswe unfold some of these
opportunities, um, sometimesthey they can connect with a
(06:54):
student on a way that theywouldn't with uh with a faculty
or a staff person.
Um they have shared experiences,uh, and so that can be really
helpful.
And and colleges now arerecognizing how helpful peers
are.
And so there are more and moreuh opportunities for for peers.
(07:14):
And they're not just using peersbecause they're cheap help.
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
No, no, not.
I think folks have kind ofrealized though the wonderful
opportunities that peer supportprovides in a way that, you
know, when we went to college afew years ago, yeah, a year or
two ago, yeah.
That you know, that wasn'treally kind of an a thing, or it
wasn't um you know, the thewealth of um just different
(07:38):
resources that students provideand in a way that students can
relate to and other studentsfeel comfortable asking, right,
in which they sometimes mightfeel like they're they feel too
silly asking a gr a quotegrown-up a stupid question and
they might be willing.
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
Yeah.
So what we want to do um withall of that um sort of setting
the the stage is talk about someof the opportunities that
students have to work with apeer or to be the peer.
Um so as we run through these,um I'd like to suggest, as
parents think about it, not onlythinking in terms of why might
(08:19):
it benefit my student to workwith another student, but also
might my student be a goodcandidate to fill one of these
positions and and be the peer.
And there really are some strongreasons to do that.
So just quickly um thinkingabout why might your student
want to be a peer, number one,they get paid.
(08:40):
Most of the time they get paid.
And so it's a nice on-campusjob.
It often has flexible hours.
If you're a tutor, you set thehours that you want to do it.
Um, some require other kinds ofcommitments.
Um, and and the student theself-esteem that students get
from just knowing I I made adifference in somebody's life is
(09:01):
is really uh important.
Um if they're teaching, ifthey're um being a tutor or
something of that nature,they're learning the material
twice.
I mean, I as a teacher, I knowI've never learned material as
well as when I had to teach itand explain it to somebody.
So that's a good thing,depending on on what it is.
(09:23):
They're working on problemsolving, they're working on
critical critical thinking, andit looks great on a resume.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
Yes, certainly.
And in as you're saying, youdon't know how well you know it
or don't know it until you go totry to explain it to someone
else, and it really helps theyou know the tutor um delve into
making sure they understandevery last piece in so it's not
just the to T who benefits.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
Right, right.
So you're mentioning tutors, solet's start with that.
So one of one of the umpositions is to be a peer tutor,
um, and there are some realadvantages to that.
Um and now thinking about whywould a student want to work
with a peer tutor rather than aprofessional tutor.
(10:10):
Um often the peer tutors havehad the same struggles, you
know.
I've the sometimes the personwho breezed through the course
may not be the best tutor, but astudent who, you know, had to
really work at it and finallygot it um can be good.
They they sort of speak the samelanguage.
Absolutely.
Sometimes it does seem as thoughthese students have an entirely
(10:33):
different language than I speak.
Um and so they can connect.
Um peer tutors serve as a rolemodel for them.
Um and uh if your student isbeing tutored by a peer tutor,
they may be a whole lot lessanxious and more well, we just
talked about the stupidquestions, but also they can
(10:56):
relax a little more and absorbthe material a little more than
if they were um uh peer tutorsoften are really enthusiastic
about what they do and they havea lot of energy.
Where sometimes some of theprofessional tutors, I mean,
they're all wonderful, butsometimes they've been doing it
a long time and it has become alittle bit right.
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
And it's been a while since they were in the
reversed kind of spot.
And I and I think, you know, asyou're saying, so many times
students who've uh are teaching,you know, this to another
student, kind of remember wherethey maybe kind of had to reread
some certain things or askquestions about certain points
and know the places in thecourse where certain questions
(11:40):
could arise that maybe theprofessor glossed over
something.
And you know, and and thatspeaks to, and I know you're
haven't even gotten to probablyhalf the things, but um, when a
student is a tutor, they'vetaken the class.
Yes, they've done well in theclass.
They are familiar, especially ifthat's their major, they've
taken a number of the professorsso they can help in a unique way
(12:04):
work with a student who's, ohyes, I know what you mean, but
you know, great thing to do withthat professor is make sure you
talk, go to office hours andmake sure you specific
information.
SPEAKER_02 (12:15):
Oh, I remember professor so-and-so.
And he they're gonna want you toknow this or be sure you know
the vocabulary.
Yes, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
Yeah, little tricks of the trade, and you know,
because every faculty hasdifferent kind of strengths,
strengths, and strategies andkind of how they um, you know,
test students and how theyspeak, you know, to things in
class, and um having someone whokind of remembers, oh yes, make
sure you study XYZ, and youknow, it's just helpful to um,
(12:45):
and then it also just helps putthe student at ease.
Right.
Um, and and then when a studentis, you know, the the tutor
says, All right, does this makesense?
And the student's like, well,this part does, but this part
still doesn't.
Can we talk about that again?
Whereas sometimes with aprofessional tutor or the
faculty themselves, the studentmight feel more reluctant to be
like, yeah, no, I still don'tget it.
(13:06):
Like they don't feel comfortableadmitting that, whereas they
will are more likely to with astudent Pierre.
SPEAKER_02 (13:11):
So so we're not saying professional tutors are
bad.
And not at all.
But um, and for some studentsand in some subjects, and
depending on the professionaltutor, it's absolutely right.
So I don't want anybody tomisunderstand us on that, but
that there are some uniqueadvantages to working with a
(13:31):
peer tutor.
So another one is um peeradvisors, and I know doing what
you do, Sarah, you work, you youtrain them and work with them
all the time.
So talk a little bit about peeradvisors.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Peer advisors are such a wonderful resource that
really helps make our office runsmoothly.
And our office, um we do allkinds of things with students in
terms of workshops, andobviously we meet with them
one-on-one, and we'll go to, youknow, as a we'll go to
classrooms, and whenever we can,we invite the peers, our peer
(14:07):
advisors to come along so thatthey can contribute to our
presentation that we're makingto a class.
Um and students do relate toother students.
I mean, as much as we love tothink we're doing such a
fabulous job, the students dorelate to what other peers are
saying.
And and, you know, especiallywhen they're a year or two or
(14:28):
three older than than they are.
And, you know, when we go intoum or we'll we'll hold workshops
even, um, and while I willreadily admit I I it's rare that
I'll be the youngest person inthe in the room for those, I do,
you know, many of our staff areare, you know, definitely
younger in their mid-20s and doa wonderful job.
(14:48):
But even with them, if there's apeer there when you know we're
kind of asking for questions atthe end and we're kind of
milling around, so oftenstudents will go up to the peer
advisor before they'll go up tothe staff who are still
considered, quote, an adult.
SPEAKER_03 (15:04):
You're right.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
So it's very interesting.
And um so often, too, if a if astudent has a question and they,
you know, it's not always easyto connect the that day,
certainly with their advisor ortheir faculty member or you
know, a staff in our office ifum they don't have an
appointment.
So we always have our peeradvisors at our front desk
(15:25):
available because so oftenstudents have a quick question
and they're like, Can you justshow me how to do this again and
register?
And how do I find this onlinedegree audit?
And how do I find what theattributes are for this gen ed?
And you know, when it'ssomething that they again can be
a little reluctant to ask theirgrown-up, whether again it's
(15:46):
their faculty advisor or one ofour staff, especially if they
feel like, oh, I know they'vetold me this already, and
they've I I don't want to soundsilly because stupid question
like they're gonna think I'm notpaying attention or that or I'm
not.
But here they can ask and ohyeah, come on, we'll show you
right here.
We have a Chromebook, we'll pullup, and you know, if the student
doesn't have a laptop with them,we we can show them and it just
(16:08):
helps the student kind of goalong with their day.
They're not stopped in thetracks until they get this
answer or have to wait two daysto meet with someone.
Um, and it just helps them learnalso, again, the power of asking
questions and being, you know,open to other people who may not
necessarily because I thinkstudents don't even realize
(16:30):
necessarily that the peeradvisors exist.
And, you know, once until theyget to to school and you know,
and we'll talk at some pointprobably about orientation
leaders and that type of thingtoo.
So there's because there's avariety of avenues that students
support can be so effective thatincoming students aren't aware
of.
Um, but they're you know, ourpeer advisors make such a
(16:52):
difference and they really helpstudents quickly and efficiently
and are a connection forstudents too, because then when
they see them across campus orthey happen to share a major and
then they start talking aboutthat.
And that's one thing we we wereally when we you know recruit
our peer advisors, we try to getas many as we can from different
majors because we want them tochat, you know, about the ins
(17:16):
and outs of the different majorsand courses they really enjoyed,
or study abroad trips, or thingsthat um they've experienced
personally that our you knowyounger students could benefit
from.
SPEAKER_02 (17:28):
And you know, as an advisor, one of the things I've
found um that the peer advisorsare really important for is
often what the students see ontheir portal and when they go to
register, what they see is verydifferent than what the faculty
portal has or or what I see.
(17:49):
So the peer advisors can reallyhelp them navigate their way
around in a way that I can't, nomatter how much I know about the
curriculum and what they need todo and all.
Um sometimes the onlineexperience for students and for
faculty and staff are are verydifferent.
SPEAKER_01 (18:06):
So I think in many schools, the staff and faculty
view of the portal and of thewebsite is different from what
the students see.
And even though, you know, I Iwould think many schools, I know
we kind of try to send videos ofwhat things look like from a
student's perspective, but for alot of faculty, you know, they
(18:29):
obviously why would they, youknow, they look at it every six
months and they have 12,000other things to do.
SPEAKER_02 (18:33):
So until you're in manipulating it, exactly
navigating your way around.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
And where students are in there all the time and
they seem to, God love them,remember things far more quickly
than the rest of us.
And oh yeah, just do this andclick here and click there.
And and again, students aresuper appreciative because they
don't feel like it was a sillyquestion.
Um and you know, there's likethree lines at the top.
If you click this, it'll showyou this, and these dots will
show, you know, so all theselittle shortcuts that students
(19:02):
use all the time that otherstudents benefit from knowing,
and it just puts them at easeand gives them all the
information they need.
SPEAKER_02 (19:09):
So so we have um peer tutors and we have peer
advisors.
So let's move out of academics alittle and um talk a little bit
about being in the dorm orresident school.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
Oh sure.
So um RAs are wonderful.
Every school, every residentialschool, so RA being sorry,
resident assistance.
My apologies, you're so correct.
Resident assistants.
So they live in the dorms.
Um they're a they're a studentwho's older, even maybe just a
year, but it depends, they'resophomores, juniors, seniors,
(19:44):
the grad students, even.
Um, but they kind of um set thestage for the students'
residential experience and umthey connect with students very
early on, typically the firstday when students first move in.
They have a floor meeting andthey introduce themselves and
they make sure the students knowwhere their rooms are so that
(20:04):
someone's always on call if theyneed them for all kinds of
things.
And um residence assistants RAsare handle everything under the
sun from homesickness to umillness to everything that a
student comes up against intheir first year that they don't
know what to do with, and theydon't know how to, you know, and
(20:25):
this is something that manytimes they would kind of chat
with their parents about, orthey're other, you know, close
friends from home, but theymaybe don't have close friends
yet, and or they have roommateconflicts and all kinds of
things.
Um, and they're just such awonderful trained student, a
little peer, but again, a littleolder, uh year or two or three,
(20:47):
not a ton, but they're they'reuh trust, they become often very
trusted mentors because theytransition issues.
You know, that first month istough for a lot of students in
many ways.
Um, and again, conflictresolution, mental health.
And there's a lot of trainingfor these students.
Absolutely.
Absolutely, yes, they're notjust thrown into things and they
(21:09):
spend a lot of time beingtrained and how to handle every
situation under the sun becausecertainly resident assistants
report to someone else, like aan um a CD, which is like a
community director or aresident.
Yes, R D C D.
They have all these differentacronyms, but yes, so that they
know what to do and they handlethings appropriately.
(21:30):
Um, and they're just veryessential guides and mentors to
students experienced or becausealso, I don't know, I'm I I
don't think anyone thinks thatall the wonderful, fabulous
resources we email students andsend them and whatever that
they're actually reading, sothat especially once they need
them, well, they you know,they're if they're in a time of
crisis or what they think is acrisis, they're not gonna go
(21:51):
back through their email,they're gonna go, who do I have?
And so then the RA is like, noworries, like this is what we
can do, this is what can help,you know, in kind of
de-escalating the situation andreally just providing support
that a student needs at a kindof difficult time.
SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
I remember when we dropped um it was our youngest
daughter off at school uhfreshman year, first time, uh,
and her birthday was going to betwo days after we dropped her
off.
Um, and we were not close.
I mean, we were she was notcoming home for her birthday.
Uh and I remember finding her RAand kind of pulling her aside
(22:31):
and letting her know that's soyou know that that that my
daughter is gonna have abirthday in two days and it's
you know and I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_01 (22:37):
I don't know if she's gonna know anyone.
SPEAKER_02 (22:39):
I think we gave her ten dollars or something and
said buy some cupcakes orsomething.
And she did a wonderful thing.
You know, they had the floormeeting and they all sang happy
birthday and everything.
SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
If you just dated yourself by saying ten dollars
would buy us a lot of cupcakes,I know.
I I did because this daughter,this daughter is grown and has a
family of her own now.
SPEAKER_02 (22:57):
So that's so wonderful, and I don't think
parents.
SPEAKER_01 (23:00):
Parents would think of that.
And the and the RAs, I mean,overall would love to do that
because they want the studentsto get to know them, and they
certainly don't want a studenton their birthday alone in their
room and feeling.
And that just probably made thesemester.
And I guarantee you, yourdaughter never ever forgot
forgot that.
And the RA, I'm sure, wasthrilled to do it.
SPEAKER_02 (23:24):
But it was just that's what RAs do.
Yes.
So it's not they're notresponsible for the entire
building or something.
And they really can get to knowright with the programming piece
too with that.
There's there's programming, andthen there's the other side that
(23:46):
the RA is uh is also the ruleenforcer.
SPEAKER_01 (23:51):
Yes, the hall monitor, so to speak.
Yes.
So and and I mean, and I thinkthat's always a big part of that
first meeting.
So yay, we're so glad you'rehere.
We you know, we welcome you andwe want you to have a wonderful
experience, but please know youcan't be burning the place down
here, you know.
So kind of in the And quiethours, yes, you know, and being
(24:11):
respectful of everybody, and sothat's a big piece of it too.
But um, you know, making surethat students know they're there
for them to have a wonderfulexperience and however they can
help support that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:24):
And so in terms of being an artist, yeah.
That they they are some itdepends on the school, and some
get paid, and uh sometimes theyget partial room and board, or
they get room but not board.
Or something, but it's usually avery significant.
SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
Yes, it very is a financial help to the student in
a variety of ways.
So it's yeah.
But that shouldn't be theprimary reason that no, because
it is a lot of work and you youdo have to be dedicated because
you know it could be a couplenights in a row.
SPEAKER_02 (25:03):
Yeah, they all they also have the late night make
the rounds and I was an RA for acouple of years when I was in
college back in the dark ages.
I know.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
I know, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
But uh, you know, you had to be on duty sometimes
late at night for signing peoplein.
Oh, certainly.
SPEAKER_01 (25:21):
So because somebody has to be on call some you know
throughout the night.
SPEAKER_02 (25:25):
So all right, so um so that that is more of a living
thing.
I want to move back to theclassroom a little bit.
Um and some schools, not allschools do, but some schools
have teaching assistants.
Now, when I'm talking aboutteaching assistance in this
context, I'm really talkingabout undergraduate teaching
(25:46):
assistants.
If you're in a big universitythat has big grad programs,
often your student might be in aclass where the the graduate
teaching assistant is actuallylike the professor of the class.
But I'm really thinking more interms of undergraduate students
because they're more peers.
Yes.
Um, not all schools have it andnot all departments have it.
(26:09):
It it depends.
Sometimes they're labassistants, I think.
And um this is somebody whoworks with a professor in in the
class, and often they sit in onthe class all the time, so
they're hearing what theprofessor is saying, and then
they might run um discussionsessions, they might run study
(26:31):
sessions, um, they might bedoing some of the grading of
papers um to you know to helpthe professor, especially if
it's a large class.
So so they're not really a tutorin the same kind of way, but
they can be.
Yes, they're real they get toknow the students in the class,
(26:53):
they get to, you know, often umit's the teaching assistant or
TA who takes attendance so theyknow who's there and who's not
uh in class a lot.
Um, they can sometimes translatefor the students.
I think that's a great word.
SPEAKER_01 (27:11):
Yes, I think that's a great word because I think,
you know, uh, you know,sometimes students first-year
students might be also initiallyhesitant to speak to them
because they do consider them agrown-up.
But as soon as they do, ninetimes out of ten, they're like,
okay, yeah, can you explain thatpiece to me in a way again that
they wouldn't feel comfortablesaying, Professor, I have no
(27:33):
idea what you just said for thelast 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_03 (27:35):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
But to a, you know, the TA, he's like, Can you
explain this part better?
I was so confused.
I didn't know.
I was, you know, in a way thatthey can relate and they feel
comfortable having the the TAsay, okay, focus on this and
from there, X, Y, Z.
SPEAKER_02 (27:52):
And so even more than a peer tutor, they're
they're living the experience ofthe class at the same time.
Now they've had the class.
They're not taking the class,but they're living the
experience of the class.
They can they can tell sometimeswhen the professor is going on
and on and the and students aredrifting and they look around
(28:13):
the room sometimes and seethey're confused.
And then the TA usually worksclosely with the professor and
might be able to say, I, youknow, from what I could tell, I
think maybe you need to clarifythis or something like that.
So um these are upper classstudents.
So, you know, again, if yourstudent is a good student and
it's it's a great way, if youare a TA, to get um really build
(28:36):
a relationship with a pr aprofessor, and again, a a great
um resume thing.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:42):
Um I was just gonna sorry, I was just gonna say,
yeah, it's a wonderful for yourresume.
It's a way to really get to knowdifferent faculty in your may
especially even your majordepartment.
I mean, it's a wonderfulresource um to so many other
things for us for a student whobecomes a TA.
Um, and I think it's just it'sjust a wonderful opportunity
(29:04):
that I don't real I don't knowthat students kind of
necessarily think that they canquote do or it's an option or
you know, they you know, butonce if it's such um it's such a
kind of next level of maturity,and uh that's very apparent when
that's on the resume that thatshows a different, you know, a
(29:26):
trust from the professor and theability to relate to both
students and the faculty, andthe faculty have their choice,
so if they've chosen you, yeah,you know, that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (29:37):
I've had a a TA a couple of times.
We don't use undergraduate TAsmuch, but um in some classes we
do.
And I it it's it was a wonderfulrelationship.
I mean, we developed a reallycollegial kind of relationship,
and that was that was reallynice.
All right, so you earlier youmentioned orientation leaders.
(29:58):
Yes.
So talk a little bit aboutorientation leaders.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Sure, they are a wonderful way to introduce
students to the collegeexperience, and um many times a
student will meet them for thefirst time during their
typically summer orientation,and sometimes it typically
that's anywhere June, July,August.
Um, and a student will you knowsign up for the orientation,
(30:24):
which we always, always, alwaysrecommend students attend.
That's probably a whole otherconversation.
SPEAKER_02 (30:29):
I think we have I think we have a podcast episode
on that we'll create the shownotes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:34):
Great.
Um, and but the orientationleaders are also, again, as
we've mentioned this before,trained extensively.
They come weeks ahead of theorientation itself.
Um, and they are trained on allkinds of aspects of the college,
much of which they kind of knowinformally because they've been
a student, but trained on veryspecific information and um all
(30:56):
kinds of team building andcommunity building and how to
relate to students and makingsure they're not inadvertently
alienating someone and justbeing kind of quote professional
and but being so much fun.
And they're really such awonderful way for students to
get acquainted with each other,and it's and you know,
orientation groups can you knowtypically range from six, eight,
(31:18):
ten students to you know, littlelarger, 15 students, and then
there'll be obviously multipleorientation leaders in the
group, but they'll take themthroughout their orientation
time there.
So sometimes, depending on thesize of the school, depending on
how every school does it,sometimes they're just one
day-long um situation, othertimes they're two or three days,
(31:38):
um, and they're really a part, ahuge part of the students'
initial kind of getting to knowthe school, and they become, I
don't know, want to sayconfidant per se, but really a
student students trust thembecause they get to know them
very quickly and they can askthem anything and they meet
other students through them.
SPEAKER_02 (31:56):
And then when they sh when the students show up uh
for school and you know, move inday and and they're starting,
they have somebody they know andthey often reach out.
SPEAKER_01 (32:06):
Yes, no, absolutely.
And I was I was just gonna say,and does, you know, every kind
of school does you utilizestheir program differently, but
often um the pr orientationleader will reach out to the
student a couple times over thesummer too and say, here's my
contact info.
If you yes, to stay connectedand make sure if you have
questions, and because so oftenstudents will have questions on,
(32:28):
you know, I gotta do the newstudent checklist and I don't
know how to log in, and where doI click on this and where do I
go to give my health forms andall the things that am I allowed
to bring a fridge?
Yes, I guess.
No, you can't bring your petalligator, but you can bring,
you know, so all the things, andI think it's just a tr again, a
trusted mentor um that just makeit such a fun introduction to
(32:52):
the school to the school and umyou know tell students things
that they don't even know theydon't know about living there
and kind of what to bring.
Because again, students aren'talways great about reading
everything they're sent, butonce they're told by someone and
um, you know, they they reallyconnect with them um because
they're with them all day long.
SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
And you know, when I've seen OLs in action when
I've been at orientation, theyhave so much energy.
Oh my gosh, and they're soexcited, and so part of what I
think they're working on doingis pumping the kids up to be
excited to come because the thethis the students are plenty
nervous.
Absolutely, they're reallynervous, and they're being fed
(33:35):
lots of information, and that'simportant.
There's a lot of informationthey need, and they're being
asked to do a lot of things.
But a big part of what those OLsare doing is just getting them
excited about being here andabout meeting other people, and
I mean it's the it's theattitude needs to sphere that's
(33:56):
a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:57):
And they also kind of put help put things in
perspective because they knowthe students are getting so much
information that they're notgonna remember and kind of
reminding them don't worry, youdon't have to memorize any of
this, and we're here to help,and kind of giving them
shortcuts to the important stuffthat they really need right
away, and making them just feelconnected to the school, to each
(34:17):
other.
And you know, if your studentleaves with a you know kind of
contact info of the orientationleader as well as a friend or
two they've met, I mean, they'regolden for the rest of the
summer.
They connect with that personand um, you know, can ask their
questions as they come upbecause the most random things
come up and they're like, Well,what department?
How do I find who I talk?
And if they they can just reachout right to the orientation
(34:40):
leader, it just uh resolves somuch anxiety, right, and angst
right away, which is what wewant.
SPEAKER_02 (34:48):
Um so that they're excited about coming and
starting school.
So those are really the kind offormal things.
There are a couple others that Ijust wanted to touch on um in
terms of peer support.
We're talking about peerssupporting peers.
Um and one for excuse me, onefor um students who are athletes
(35:13):
uh is their team captain.
And the the the team captain, II think is usually elected by
the team.
Um and so especially if astudent is coming in as a as a
first-year student on the team.
In fact, I just talked to astudent um a couple of days ago
who said I was really kind ofnervous coming in to this team
(35:37):
that's been, you know, it's beena good team and it's been been a
tight team.
They've been together for ayear.
Yeah, they've been together.
And he said they made me feel sogood, and the team captain, you
know, told me things I needed toknow.
So um team captains are you knowreal real leaders, it's a it's a
leadership position.
They set the tone for the team.
(35:59):
Sometimes they work at holdingaccountability.
Accountable, yep, accountablefor, you know, they they let
them know the the kind of theteam culture.
Different teams have differentdifferent ways of being, being
together, differentexpectations.
Team Cap can can be a reallygood liaison between the new
(36:19):
athlete and the coach.
Absolutely sometimes, you know,don't tell the coach this, or
you know, don't and the coach isgonna want to know this.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
Or make sure you get to these practices on time and
they're not optional and and andthose sorts of things.
SPEAKER_02 (36:32):
So it's a real opportunity for a new student
who happens to be an athlete toconnect with an upper class
student in a more in a littlebit more informal way.
Um and and some of theexpectations can be around
academics, you know, we expecteveryone on this team to to have
(36:52):
this standard or uh aroundbehavior.
SPEAKER_01 (36:56):
Yeah, and to kind of add to that, I mean there's two
things.
So one thing we we offer arekind of study hours, um, and and
teams are supposed to actuallydo a certain number of hours,
and uh, you know, we have themin our library now.
Um, and it's a greatopportunity.
Um, even if in and some studentsfeel like, well, I'm doing fine.
I don't I don't need that.
But you can always do better andyou can always do yourself a
(37:19):
favor by having some dedicatedtime, and you'll connect with
your teammates in a way that,you know, yes, you're supposed
to be studying, but there's, youknow, you have some downtime and
you can connect.
So always encourage I alwaysencourage students to go, and
they're always glad they didbecause they get work done, they
connect with students that maybethey haven't met so much on
(37:39):
their team because maybe they'renot in their major and they're a
couple years old or something,but it's just a great
opportunity um to to kind of geteverything you possibly can out
of out of this team environment.
And you know, it's always goodtoo to encourage your student
athletes um to do whateveropportunities are presented.
And by that I mean, for example,we have for new students, um,
(38:02):
some folks do things like thisat orientation or during cut
welcome weekend.
Um, but we've done this um forseveral years that seem to have
worked very well, um, where wetalk to coaches from all the
sports, you know, the men'steams, women's teams, and we get
a variety of um athletes thattypically juniors and seniors
(38:23):
that the coaches haverecommended.
May they may or may not be teamcaptain, but they're leaders and
they're role models, and they,you know, they do a great job
kind of welcoming, you know,formally or informally, but
they're they're a good they'regood role models.
And so we've had panels where umthe staff in my office will ask
them questions, and then youknow, and the first year
(38:45):
students are encouraged,required, minute, something, get
your butt there.
Um, and you know, most do,especially if they'll do what
their coaches tell them to do.
If their coaches say you need toget your butt there, they will.
Um, but it's a great environmentand avenue for students to learn
from students who have been sickwho are successful athletes and
are doing well, and we can tellthem the same thing till we're
(39:08):
blue in the face, and they'relike, Yeah, whatever.
But then when they're, you know,folks that they kind of start,
you know, have just met or lookup to and they're telling them
the same thing, like, yeah, makesure you don't wait till a month
in to start your reading.
Like you're never gonna catch upin that semester, you know,
different things that make somuch.
SPEAKER_02 (39:27):
They can help students understand how to find
that balance between athleticsand um academics, because if
their academics slip, they'renot going to play athletics.
So um they often have a lot ofadvice around that sort of thing
and even around schedules andand all I know when I've worked
(39:48):
with athletes, one of thequestions I often ask them is
are you are you better as astudent when you're in season or
not?
And so and they really do, and Ithink they get some of this
information from their teamcaptains and the the leaders on
the team of saying, yeah, when Iwhen I'm in season, I want a
(40:11):
little bit lighter schedule.
I want to, I wanna maybe classesthat aren't quite as heavy, or
maybe I'll even do one lessclass or something.
And then I have other studentswho say, oh no, time management.
I need to be student.
When I'm in season, I'm focused,I am, you know, I bring it on.
I that's when I do my best work.
(40:31):
So and then I get a little lazywhen I'm off season.
SPEAKER_01 (40:35):
So no, and then and that speaks to like you're
saying, scheduling for specificcourses too, for specific
majors.
Um, you know, make sure ifyou're taking that lab, don't
take it during our seasonbecause that's gonna go till 10
o'clock at night and blah, blah,blah.
So, I mean, I think it's sohelpful for students to relate
to others.
And and and one thing, you know,too.
(40:55):
Well, of course, we tellstudents, you know, this is your
make sure you look XYZ place foryour registration day on your on
your portal and all thosethings, and make sure you
register first thing you can soyou get the classes you need.
And you know, you can inwardlyhear, see their eyes rolling,
right?
But when when the when the teamcaptain or the team leaders are
there saying, Listen, you don'twant any more, you know,
(41:18):
afternoon courses um on whenyou're in season and your games
start at one in the afternoon,so you need to register as soon
as you possibly can.
Do not miss your registrationtime, or you are not gonna get
the class times you want, oryou're gonna end up with classes
that you may, you know, not havebeen your first choice.
And so things like that, they'llresonate with them in a way that
they kind of believe more sothan when we say it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:41):
And you know, I think for students who are not
athletes, uh sometimes if theyfind um a group, a club or
something like that, the samesort of thing can happen.
It's not quite as formal.
Yeah, it's not quite as formalas as athletics teams, athletic
teams.
But all right, I just want totouch on one more because it's
(42:03):
often, you know, you know, wedon't think of it necessarily as
peer support.
Um, but that is simply students'friends, the friends that they
have.
Um having them think carefullyabout the friends that they
choose uh and whether they havesimilar values uh and are going
(42:25):
to be a a support for them.
And we have a um I think I thinkwe have a I know there's a an
article on the website, and Ithink we have a podcast.
This we're we're over 150episodes now, and I'm trying to
try to remember all of them.
Um about about friends and andall of that, that often the
(42:46):
friends when when students firstcome to college, their friends
are friends of convenience.
They're the people that live ontheir floor, they're the people
that might be in a class withthem.
And then as they move alongthroughout first year and
definitely into second year,sometimes those friends fall
away and they begin to find thefriends who really they have
(43:09):
things in common.
But but recognizing, I mean,sometimes sometimes those
friendships formed in collegeare the ones that last a
lifetime, right?
They're the maids of honor andthe and the groomsman and the
best man and um and thegodfathers and the godmothers
and and all of those.
(43:30):
Um, and so helping studentsthink about, you know, who their
friends are, how they choosetheir friends, their roommate
does not need to be their bestfriend.
SPEAKER_01 (43:39):
Yes, and I see that uh we see that often, and we
often encourage students not to,if they're coming from the same
high school and in the samefriend group, it's not it's
often not the best idea to roomwith someone they already know.
SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
You know, I have some friends that I dearly love,
but I would not want to livewith.
And it's a different thing.
So not not feeling, you know, ifyour roommate doesn't become
your best friend, that meansthey're not a good roommate.
No, if you have similar, youknow, ways of living, that's
just fine.
SPEAKER_01 (44:10):
And um and it's hard to be around the same people no
matter how much you enjoy them24-7.
And it's often it it it can becomplicated and difficult to
have a roommate who you whom youwere thinking might be your best
friend or are thinking you know,you're if you're with each other
a lot, um, especially if you'rein the same major too, like it's
(44:31):
sometimes helpful to have um,you know, just different outlets
and you know, different ways ofbeing.
And and you know, one thing Itell students when they've, you
know, they're in high school andthey're kind of filling out the
form and they're I say, you knowwhat, it's great that you'll,
you know, you'll know someone atthe school that you can always
connect with.
But if you room with each if youeach room with a different
(44:52):
roommate, you still have eachother, but then you also have
your new roommate whom you'll behopefully friendly with and meet
their friends, and then you'reCurrent friends, roommates, and
that like your circle widensexponentially.
And then you just have such abigger network and people you're
friendly with.
And again, no, everyone doesn'thave to be best friends, but
friendly and places to go andthings to do and friendly faces
(45:14):
on campus, and you just widenyour circle so much more from
the get-go.
Good advice.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (45:21):
Yeah.
So so just, you know, havinghaving students sort of think
about the the support thatfriends can be.
And are they choosing thefriends that do support them?
You know, does this friend liftyou up or does this friend bring
you down?
SPEAKER_01 (45:35):
Right.
Or does this friend kind ofencourage you to make not the
best choices and you notice thatafter the semester?
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
And then students also thinking about how to be a
good friend, you know, becausethat sense of support, I, you
know, I see such tightfriendships in in college.
I mean, when you're livingtogether or spending this kind
of time and you're going througha kind of an emotional those
four years of college, there's alot going on.
(46:02):
And so the people that thatyou're with, and I've had some
students, that sense ofbelonging, I've had some
students say, I'm really, youknow, I'm toying with
transferring, I'm not sure aboutthings, but I can't leave my
friends.
Exactly.
And and I'm gonna stay herebecause I have such such good
friends now.
SPEAKER_01 (46:21):
And and I've seen, I mean, I remember 100 years ago
when I was in school, and um,you know, there was, you know,
you meet people and everybody'sfrom kind of different places,
and you get to know folks.
And I remember um one of ourfriends, she had kind of changed
majors a couple of times, wasn'tsuper sure what she wanted to
do, and then really startedtalking about this kind of
science major she was interestedin.
(46:41):
But, you know, you had to writea paper or, you know, not a one
or a few paragraphs just toexplain why you wanted to be in
this major.
And she kind of kept putting itoff and she's like, Well, I
don't really know, but we allwere listening to her and knew
that this is what she wanted todo.
It's like this stupid paper isreally preventing you.
So one of our friends whoactually was her roommate at the
time was like, sit your buttdown.
I'm writing this with you rightnow.
(47:02):
I'm helping you do this becausethis is we can hear and tell you
what you've been telling us.
Yes, we're hearing you, and Ithink you're, you know, she was
gun shy about pulling thetrigger because she'd tried a
couple other things, but it'slike all of your decisions have
led you to this point and allyour kind of nice story.
Literally, and she helped herwrite the three paragraphs, and
it was like literally she'dstill be wandering around, I
(47:25):
think, trying to make up hermind.
And it was just such a great andyou know, they're the we're
we're all the same age.
It's not like any of us had anywhatever, but it's like we
listen when you with good peoplewho are looking out for you, you
kind of listen and hear and cansay things in a way that
resonate when you're in a kindof state of flurry or whatever.
SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
So, bottom line, um, I think of what we what we've
been trying to put out there isuh there are lots of
opportunities for students towork with other students that
can be really enriching and uhand and helpful in a lot of
ways.
In a way we're not saying theprofessionals aren't doing their
(48:10):
job and aren't good to workwith, but that there is this
extra layer that can that can behelpful and and and so maybe
talking to your student or youknow, hopefully parents maybe
can feel a little better if thestudent comes home or you know
talks to you and says, Well, I'mworking with a peer tutor, and
(48:30):
not feeling like, oh, that's notnot gonna work as well.
Or um, and then it and you know,as you you know your student,
thinking about are there any ofthese kinds of positions you
might want to encourage them toinvestigate and and do, because
it is uh on both sides of thedesk, it's so many benefits.
SPEAKER_01 (48:52):
And I and I think you're so right because I think
so many parents don'tnecessarily think of those as
opportunities, but especiallyfor students who have probably
you know, many students havevery busy schedules.
So trying to get to anoff-campus job or commit to
something every weekend orwhatever is really challenging.
But if they're comfortable in asubject and they want a tutor
and it's their own choice, theirown choice, and also what hours
(49:13):
they choose, you know.
So if they don't have to make anappointment for this week if
they can't do it, but if theycan do a few hours here and
there when they can, that'sgreat, you know, spending money
and you know, again, just thebenefits on both sides of the
equation um are just wonderful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:29):
So parents have a conversation with your student
and and and relax a little bitand feel comfortable that um
there are lots of people uh ofall sorts around your student
taking care of them.
Well said.
So thanks for being with us.
Thanks.
If you made it here to the end,thanks for sticking with us to
(49:49):
the end.
We hope we gave you somethingthat is useful and you will have
some conversations with yourstudent.
And so we will see you nexttime.
Thank you so much.
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already incollege, this podcast is for
you.
You'll find food for thought andinformation about college and
about navigating that delicatebalance of guidance,
involvement, and knowing when toget out of the way.
(01:32):
Join your hosts as they sharesupport and a celebration of the
amazing experience of having achild in college.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Welcome to the College Parent Central Podcast.
This is the podcast where wetalk about all kinds of things
that have to do with being theparent of a college student, or
the parent of a high schoolstudent thinking about going to
college, or the parent of astudent who's stepping out of
college.
All of those things.
(02:05):
And we cover it both from ourprofessions and from having been
parents.
Well, we having been, we stillare parents, but having been
parents of college students.
My name is Vicki Nelson, and Iam a professor of communication.
So I work with college studentsevery day.
(02:27):
And I am also the parent ofthree daughters who have all
gone to college.
So I have lived through thisphase of feeling overwhelmed by
college.
And I am here today with one ofmy co-hosts.
I'd say one of my favoriteco-hosts, but I say that for
every co-host.
Sarah Shane.
(02:47):
So I'm going to let herintroduce herself.
SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
Sure.
Thank you so much, Ricky.
So I'm Sarah Shane.
I'm the director of the Officeof Advising and Academic Success
at a small liberal arts college.
I've been there for about 10years and in academic advising
for, oh, too many to count, over25.
We don't have to revealeverything.
That's probably too many tocount.
(03:10):
And I also am the parent of onecollege graduate, two sons, one
who's graduated and is now in uhworking full-time and in a
part-time master's program, andthen um another son who's a
sophomore in college.
Um so I very much appreciate allaspects of this process.
SPEAKER_02 (03:31):
So it's the same thing as when Lynn is here, um,
and she has the boys and I havethe girls.
And you have the boys and I havethe girls.
So we've we've kind of seen itall.
Um so one of the things wewanted to talk about today um is
peer-to-peer support.
Uh I think, you know, when wesend our students away to
(03:51):
college, we're worried aboutwho's going to take care of
them, who's going to supportthem, who's going to help them,
who's going to do all of thosethings.
And any any college anywhere isjust full of professionals who
can do that, uh, who can takecare of their health, their
mental health, their academics,their social, you know,
(04:12):
everything.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
All the things.
All the things.
SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
But in addition to that, um, there are some
peer-to-peer supports that arereally helpful.
And I think I think there are acouple of things to to think
about as we m talk about this.
And the first is that what we'reseeing, um, and I'm sure Sarah,
you see it too, is that studentstoday really often have a lot of
(04:38):
trouble asking for help.
Absolutely.
They they have this feeling thatbeing independent, because we
keep telling them now you'regoing to college, you're
independent, and all, but thatthat means you have to do
everything on your own.
And and so asking for help isreally hard when they need it.
And they're especially afraid ofasking professors and asking
(05:01):
some of the professionals.
SPEAKER_01 (05:02):
Certainly.
I think, and and I thinkdepending on, you know, kind of
the culture that um students areraised in, some might feel, you
know, not and not that theyshould at all, but that asking
for a sign of help is aweakness, which of course it is
not at all.
And one of the things we saytill we're black and blue is
that, you know, asking for helpwill only, you know, increase
(05:24):
your chances for success andopen you up to all the
resources.
And we are happy to help onevery level.
We just need to know if you havequestions.
Right.
But yes, I think students are umis often, especially first year
students and incoming students,um nervous around faculty and as
well as staff.
(05:44):
Um, but I think yes, having theother options we'll chat about
tonight makes opens up a wholeother world of opportunities.
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
Yeah, and we actually have a separate um
podcast episode just on helpseeking and that.
So we'll link to that in theshow notes.
So here we have these studentswho often are afraid or reticent
to ask us for help.
Um, but they are often morecomfortable connecting with a
peer.
(06:11):
And so that can be a wonderfulthing for them on on many levels
and in many areas because umthere they will ask questions
that they might not ask us andthey will seek help.
The problem sometimes is thatsome parents worry that let's
(06:31):
take tutoring just as anexample.
My student needs a tutor.
I want I want my student workingwith a professional tutor.
I don't want him him or her, Idon't I don't want them just
working with another studentbecause it's not going to be as
good.
Um, but as we'll talk about aswe unfold some of these
opportunities, um, sometimesthey they can connect with a
(06:54):
student on a way that theywouldn't with uh with a faculty
or a staff person.
Um they have shared experiences,uh, and so that can be really
helpful.
And and colleges now arerecognizing how helpful peers
are.
And so there are more and moreuh opportunities for for peers.
(07:14):
And they're not just using peersbecause they're cheap help.
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
No, no, not.
I think folks have kind ofrealized though the wonderful
opportunities that peer supportprovides in a way that, you
know, when we went to college afew years ago, yeah, a year or
two ago, yeah.
That you know, that wasn'treally kind of an a thing, or it
wasn't um you know, the thewealth of um just different
(07:38):
resources that students provideand in a way that students can
relate to and other studentsfeel comfortable asking, right,
in which they sometimes mightfeel like they're they feel too
silly asking a gr a quotegrown-up a stupid question and
they might be willing.
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
Yeah.
So what we want to do um withall of that um sort of setting
the the stage is talk about someof the opportunities that
students have to work with apeer or to be the peer.
Um so as we run through these,um I'd like to suggest, as
parents think about it, not onlythinking in terms of why might
(08:19):
it benefit my student to workwith another student, but also
might my student be a goodcandidate to fill one of these
positions and and be the peer.
And there really are some strongreasons to do that.
So just quickly um thinkingabout why might your student
want to be a peer, number one,they get paid.
(08:40):
Most of the time they get paid.
And so it's a nice on-campusjob.
It often has flexible hours.
If you're a tutor, you set thehours that you want to do it.
Um, some require other kinds ofcommitments.
Um, and and the student theself-esteem that students get
from just knowing I I made adifference in somebody's life is
(09:01):
is really uh important.
Um if they're teaching, ifthey're um being a tutor or
something of that nature,they're learning the material
twice.
I mean, I as a teacher, I knowI've never learned material as
well as when I had to teach itand explain it to somebody.
So that's a good thing,depending on on what it is.
(09:23):
They're working on problemsolving, they're working on
critical critical thinking, andit looks great on a resume.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
Yes, certainly.
And in as you're saying, youdon't know how well you know it
or don't know it until you go totry to explain it to someone
else, and it really helps theyou know the tutor um delve into
making sure they understandevery last piece in so it's not
just the to T who benefits.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
Right, right.
So you're mentioning tutors, solet's start with that.
So one of one of the umpositions is to be a peer tutor,
um, and there are some realadvantages to that.
Um and now thinking about whywould a student want to work
with a peer tutor rather than aprofessional tutor.
(10:10):
Um often the peer tutors havehad the same struggles, you
know.
I've the sometimes the personwho breezed through the course
may not be the best tutor, but astudent who, you know, had to
really work at it and finallygot it um can be good.
They they sort of speak the samelanguage.
Absolutely.
Sometimes it does seem as thoughthese students have an entirely
(10:33):
different language than I speak.
Um and so they can connect.
Um peer tutors serve as a rolemodel for them.
Um and uh if your student isbeing tutored by a peer tutor,
they may be a whole lot lessanxious and more well, we just
talked about the stupidquestions, but also they can
(10:56):
relax a little more and absorbthe material a little more than
if they were um uh peer tutorsoften are really enthusiastic
about what they do and they havea lot of energy.
Where sometimes some of theprofessional tutors, I mean,
they're all wonderful, butsometimes they've been doing it
a long time and it has become alittle bit right.
SPEAKER_01 (11:16):
And it's been a while since they were in the
reversed kind of spot.
And I and I think, you know, asyou're saying, so many times
students who've uh are teaching,you know, this to another
student, kind of remember wherethey maybe kind of had to reread
some certain things or askquestions about certain points
and know the places in thecourse where certain questions
(11:40):
could arise that maybe theprofessor glossed over
something.
And you know, and and thatspeaks to, and I know you're
haven't even gotten to probablyhalf the things, but um, when a
student is a tutor, they'vetaken the class.
Yes, they've done well in theclass.
They are familiar, especially ifthat's their major, they've
taken a number of the professorsso they can help in a unique way
(12:04):
work with a student who's, ohyes, I know what you mean, but
you know, great thing to do withthat professor is make sure you
talk, go to office hours andmake sure you specific
information.
SPEAKER_02 (12:15):
Oh, I remember professor so-and-so.
And he they're gonna want you toknow this or be sure you know
the vocabulary.
Yes, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
Yeah, little tricks of the trade, and you know,
because every faculty hasdifferent kind of strengths,
strengths, and strategies andkind of how they um, you know,
test students and how theyspeak, you know, to things in
class, and um having someone whokind of remembers, oh yes, make
sure you study XYZ, and youknow, it's just helpful to um,
(12:45):
and then it also just helps putthe student at ease.
Right.
Um, and and then when a studentis, you know, the the tutor
says, All right, does this makesense?
And the student's like, well,this part does, but this part
still doesn't.
Can we talk about that again?
Whereas sometimes with aprofessional tutor or the
faculty themselves, the studentmight feel more reluctant to be
like, yeah, no, I still don'tget it.
(13:06):
Like they don't feel comfortableadmitting that, whereas they
will are more likely to with astudent Pierre.
SPEAKER_02 (13:11):
So so we're not saying professional tutors are
bad.
And not at all.
But um, and for some studentsand in some subjects, and
depending on the professionaltutor, it's absolutely right.
So I don't want anybody tomisunderstand us on that, but
that there are some uniqueadvantages to working with a
(13:31):
peer tutor.
So another one is um peeradvisors, and I know doing what
you do, Sarah, you work, you youtrain them and work with them
all the time.
So talk a little bit about peeradvisors.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Peer advisors are such a wonderful resource that
really helps make our office runsmoothly.
And our office, um we do allkinds of things with students in
terms of workshops, andobviously we meet with them
one-on-one, and we'll go to, youknow, as a we'll go to
classrooms, and whenever we can,we invite the peers, our peer
(14:07):
advisors to come along so thatthey can contribute to our
presentation that we're makingto a class.
Um and students do relate toother students.
I mean, as much as we love tothink we're doing such a
fabulous job, the students dorelate to what other peers are
saying.
And and, you know, especiallywhen they're a year or two or
(14:28):
three older than than they are.
And, you know, when we go intoum or we'll we'll hold workshops
even, um, and while I willreadily admit I I it's rare that
I'll be the youngest person inthe in the room for those, I do,
you know, many of our staff areare, you know, definitely
younger in their mid-20s and doa wonderful job.
(14:48):
But even with them, if there's apeer there when you know we're
kind of asking for questions atthe end and we're kind of
milling around, so oftenstudents will go up to the peer
advisor before they'll go up tothe staff who are still
considered, quote, an adult.
SPEAKER_03 (15:04):
You're right.
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
So it's very interesting.
And um so often, too, if a if astudent has a question and they,
you know, it's not always easyto connect the that day,
certainly with their advisor ortheir faculty member or you
know, a staff in our office ifum they don't have an
appointment.
So we always have our peeradvisors at our front desk
(15:25):
available because so oftenstudents have a quick question
and they're like, Can you justshow me how to do this again and
register?
And how do I find this onlinedegree audit?
And how do I find what theattributes are for this gen ed?
And you know, when it'ssomething that they again can be
a little reluctant to ask theirgrown-up, whether again it's
(15:46):
their faculty advisor or one ofour staff, especially if they
feel like, oh, I know they'vetold me this already, and
they've I I don't want to soundsilly because stupid question
like they're gonna think I'm notpaying attention or that or I'm
not.
But here they can ask and ohyeah, come on, we'll show you
right here.
We have a Chromebook, we'll pullup, and you know, if the student
doesn't have a laptop with them,we we can show them and it just
(16:08):
helps the student kind of goalong with their day.
They're not stopped in thetracks until they get this
answer or have to wait two daysto meet with someone.
Um, and it just helps them learnalso, again, the power of asking
questions and being, you know,open to other people who may not
necessarily because I thinkstudents don't even realize
(16:30):
necessarily that the peeradvisors exist.
And, you know, once until theyget to to school and you know,
and we'll talk at some pointprobably about orientation
leaders and that type of thingtoo.
So there's because there's avariety of avenues that students
support can be so effective thatincoming students aren't aware
of.
Um, but they're you know, ourpeer advisors make such a
(16:52):
difference and they really helpstudents quickly and efficiently
and are a connection forstudents too, because then when
they see them across campus orthey happen to share a major and
then they start talking aboutthat.
And that's one thing we we wereally when we you know recruit
our peer advisors, we try to getas many as we can from different
majors because we want them tochat, you know, about the ins
(17:16):
and outs of the different majorsand courses they really enjoyed,
or study abroad trips, or thingsthat um they've experienced
personally that our you knowyounger students could benefit
from.
SPEAKER_02 (17:28):
And you know, as an advisor, one of the things I've
found um that the peer advisorsare really important for is
often what the students see ontheir portal and when they go to
register, what they see is verydifferent than what the faculty
portal has or or what I see.
(17:49):
So the peer advisors can reallyhelp them navigate their way
around in a way that I can't, nomatter how much I know about the
curriculum and what they need todo and all.
Um sometimes the onlineexperience for students and for
faculty and staff are are verydifferent.
SPEAKER_01 (18:06):
So I think in many schools, the staff and faculty
view of the portal and of thewebsite is different from what
the students see.
And even though, you know, I Iwould think many schools, I know
we kind of try to send videos ofwhat things look like from a
student's perspective, but for alot of faculty, you know, they
(18:29):
obviously why would they, youknow, they look at it every six
months and they have 12,000other things to do.
SPEAKER_02 (18:33):
So until you're in manipulating it, exactly
navigating your way around.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
And where students are in there all the time and
they seem to, God love them,remember things far more quickly
than the rest of us.
And oh yeah, just do this andclick here and click there.
And and again, students aresuper appreciative because they
don't feel like it was a sillyquestion.
Um and you know, there's likethree lines at the top.
If you click this, it'll showyou this, and these dots will
show, you know, so all theselittle shortcuts that students
(19:02):
use all the time that otherstudents benefit from knowing,
and it just puts them at easeand gives them all the
information they need.
SPEAKER_02 (19:09):
So so we have um peer tutors and we have peer
advisors.
So let's move out of academics alittle and um talk a little bit
about being in the dorm orresident school.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
Oh sure.
So um RAs are wonderful.
Every school, every residentialschool, so RA being sorry,
resident assistance.
My apologies, you're so correct.
Resident assistants.
So they live in the dorms.
Um they're a they're a studentwho's older, even maybe just a
year, but it depends, they'resophomores, juniors, seniors,
(19:44):
the grad students, even.
Um, but they kind of um set thestage for the students'
residential experience and umthey connect with students very
early on, typically the firstday when students first move in.
They have a floor meeting andthey introduce themselves and
they make sure the students knowwhere their rooms are so that
(20:04):
someone's always on call if theyneed them for all kinds of
things.
And um residence assistants RAsare handle everything under the
sun from homesickness to umillness to everything that a
student comes up against intheir first year that they don't
know what to do with, and theydon't know how to, you know, and
(20:25):
this is something that manytimes they would kind of chat
with their parents about, orthey're other, you know, close
friends from home, but theymaybe don't have close friends
yet, and or they have roommateconflicts and all kinds of
things.
Um, and they're just such awonderful trained student, a
little peer, but again, a littleolder, uh year or two or three,
(20:47):
not a ton, but they're they'reuh trust, they become often very
trusted mentors because theytransition issues.
You know, that first month istough for a lot of students in
many ways.
Um, and again, conflictresolution, mental health.
And there's a lot of trainingfor these students.
Absolutely.
Absolutely, yes, they're notjust thrown into things and they
(21:09):
spend a lot of time beingtrained and how to handle every
situation under the sun becausecertainly resident assistants
report to someone else, like aan um a CD, which is like a
community director or aresident.
Yes, R D C D.
They have all these differentacronyms, but yes, so that they
know what to do and they handlethings appropriately.
(21:30):
Um, and they're just veryessential guides and mentors to
students experienced or becausealso, I don't know, I'm I I
don't think anyone thinks thatall the wonderful, fabulous
resources we email students andsend them and whatever that
they're actually reading, sothat especially once they need
them, well, they you know,they're if they're in a time of
crisis or what they think is acrisis, they're not gonna go
(21:51):
back through their email,they're gonna go, who do I have?
And so then the RA is like, noworries, like this is what we
can do, this is what can help,you know, in kind of
de-escalating the situation andreally just providing support
that a student needs at a kindof difficult time.
SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
I remember when we dropped um it was our youngest
daughter off at school uhfreshman year, first time, uh,
and her birthday was going to betwo days after we dropped her
off.
Um, and we were not close.
I mean, we were she was notcoming home for her birthday.
Uh and I remember finding her RAand kind of pulling her aside
(22:31):
and letting her know that's soyou know that that that my
daughter is gonna have abirthday in two days and it's
you know and I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_01 (22:37):
I don't know if she's gonna know anyone.
SPEAKER_02 (22:39):
I think we gave her ten dollars or something and
said buy some cupcakes orsomething.
And she did a wonderful thing.
You know, they had the floormeeting and they all sang happy
birthday and everything.
SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
If you just dated yourself by saying ten dollars
would buy us a lot of cupcakes,I know.
I I did because this daughter,this daughter is grown and has a
family of her own now.
SPEAKER_02 (22:57):
So that's so wonderful, and I don't think
parents.
SPEAKER_01 (23:00):
Parents would think of that.
And the and the RAs, I mean,overall would love to do that
because they want the studentsto get to know them, and they
certainly don't want a studenton their birthday alone in their
room and feeling.
And that just probably made thesemester.
And I guarantee you, yourdaughter never ever forgot
forgot that.
And the RA, I'm sure, wasthrilled to do it.
SPEAKER_02 (23:24):
But it was just that's what RAs do.
Yes.
So it's not they're notresponsible for the entire
building or something.
And they really can get to knowright with the programming piece
too with that.
There's there's programming, andthen there's the other side that
(23:46):
the RA is uh is also the ruleenforcer.
SPEAKER_01 (23:51):
Yes, the hall monitor, so to speak.
Yes.
So and and I mean, and I thinkthat's always a big part of that
first meeting.
So yay, we're so glad you'rehere.
We you know, we welcome you andwe want you to have a wonderful
experience, but please know youcan't be burning the place down
here, you know.
So kind of in the And quiethours, yes, you know, and being
(24:11):
respectful of everybody, and sothat's a big piece of it too.
But um, you know, making surethat students know they're there
for them to have a wonderfulexperience and however they can
help support that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:24):
And so in terms of being an artist, yeah.
That they they are some itdepends on the school, and some
get paid, and uh sometimes theyget partial room and board, or
they get room but not board.
Or something, but it's usually avery significant.
SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
Yes, it very is a financial help to the student in
a variety of ways.
So it's yeah.
But that shouldn't be theprimary reason that no, because
it is a lot of work and you youdo have to be dedicated because
you know it could be a couplenights in a row.
SPEAKER_02 (25:03):
Yeah, they all they also have the late night make
the rounds and I was an RA for acouple of years when I was in
college back in the dark ages.
I know.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
I know, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
But uh, you know, you had to be on duty sometimes
late at night for signing peoplein.
Oh, certainly.
SPEAKER_01 (25:21):
So because somebody has to be on call some you know
throughout the night.
SPEAKER_02 (25:25):
So all right, so um so that that is more of a living
thing.
I want to move back to theclassroom a little bit.
Um and some schools, not allschools do, but some schools
have teaching assistants.
Now, when I'm talking aboutteaching assistance in this
context, I'm really talkingabout undergraduate teaching
(25:46):
assistants.
If you're in a big universitythat has big grad programs,
often your student might be in aclass where the the graduate
teaching assistant is actuallylike the professor of the class.
But I'm really thinking more interms of undergraduate students
because they're more peers.
Yes.
Um, not all schools have it andnot all departments have it.
(26:09):
It it depends.
Sometimes they're labassistants, I think.
And um this is somebody whoworks with a professor in in the
class, and often they sit in onthe class all the time, so
they're hearing what theprofessor is saying, and then
they might run um discussionsessions, they might run study
(26:31):
sessions, um, they might bedoing some of the grading of
papers um to you know to helpthe professor, especially if
it's a large class.
So so they're not really a tutorin the same kind of way, but
they can be.
Yes, they're real they get toknow the students in the class,
(26:53):
they get to, you know, often umit's the teaching assistant or
TA who takes attendance so theyknow who's there and who's not
uh in class a lot.
Um, they can sometimes translatefor the students.
I think that's a great word.
SPEAKER_01 (27:11):
Yes, I think that's a great word because I think,
you know, uh, you know,sometimes students first-year
students might be also initiallyhesitant to speak to them
because they do consider them agrown-up.
But as soon as they do, ninetimes out of ten, they're like,
okay, yeah, can you explain thatpiece to me in a way again that
they wouldn't feel comfortablesaying, Professor, I have no
(27:33):
idea what you just said for thelast 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_03 (27:35):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
But to a, you know, the TA, he's like, Can you
explain this part better?
I was so confused.
I didn't know.
I was, you know, in a way thatthey can relate and they feel
comfortable having the the TAsay, okay, focus on this and
from there, X, Y, Z.
SPEAKER_02 (27:52):
And so even more than a peer tutor, they're
they're living the experience ofthe class at the same time.
Now they've had the class.
They're not taking the class,but they're living the
experience of the class.
They can they can tell sometimeswhen the professor is going on
and on and the and students aredrifting and they look around
(28:13):
the room sometimes and seethey're confused.
And then the TA usually worksclosely with the professor and
might be able to say, I, youknow, from what I could tell, I
think maybe you need to clarifythis or something like that.
So um these are upper classstudents.
So, you know, again, if yourstudent is a good student and
it's it's a great way, if youare a TA, to get um really build
(28:36):
a relationship with a pr aprofessor, and again, a a great
um resume thing.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:42):
Um I was just gonna sorry, I was just gonna say,
yeah, it's a wonderful for yourresume.
It's a way to really get to knowdifferent faculty in your may
especially even your majordepartment.
I mean, it's a wonderfulresource um to so many other
things for us for a student whobecomes a TA.
Um, and I think it's just it'sjust a wonderful opportunity
(29:04):
that I don't real I don't knowthat students kind of
necessarily think that they canquote do or it's an option or
you know, they you know, butonce if it's such um it's such a
kind of next level of maturity,and uh that's very apparent when
that's on the resume that thatshows a different, you know, a
(29:26):
trust from the professor and theability to relate to both
students and the faculty, andthe faculty have their choice,
so if they've chosen you, yeah,you know, that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (29:37):
I've had a a TA a couple of times.
We don't use undergraduate TAsmuch, but um in some classes we
do.
And I it it's it was a wonderfulrelationship.
I mean, we developed a reallycollegial kind of relationship,
and that was that was reallynice.
All right, so you earlier youmentioned orientation leaders.
(29:58):
Yes.
So talk a little bit aboutorientation leaders.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Sure, they are a wonderful way to introduce
students to the collegeexperience, and um many times a
student will meet them for thefirst time during their
typically summer orientation,and sometimes it typically
that's anywhere June, July,August.
Um, and a student will you knowsign up for the orientation,
(30:24):
which we always, always, alwaysrecommend students attend.
That's probably a whole otherconversation.
SPEAKER_02 (30:29):
I think we have I think we have a podcast episode
on that we'll create the shownotes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:34):
Great.
Um, and but the orientationleaders are also, again, as
we've mentioned this before,trained extensively.
They come weeks ahead of theorientation itself.
Um, and they are trained on allkinds of aspects of the college,
much of which they kind of knowinformally because they've been
a student, but trained on veryspecific information and um all
(30:56):
kinds of team building andcommunity building and how to
relate to students and makingsure they're not inadvertently
alienating someone and justbeing kind of quote professional
and but being so much fun.
And they're really such awonderful way for students to
get acquainted with each other,and it's and you know,
orientation groups can you knowtypically range from six, eight,
(31:18):
ten students to you know, littlelarger, 15 students, and then
there'll be obviously multipleorientation leaders in the
group, but they'll take themthroughout their orientation
time there.
So sometimes, depending on thesize of the school, depending on
how every school does it,sometimes they're just one
day-long um situation, othertimes they're two or three days,
(31:38):
um, and they're really a part, ahuge part of the students'
initial kind of getting to knowthe school, and they become, I
don't know, want to sayconfidant per se, but really a
student students trust thembecause they get to know them
very quickly and they can askthem anything and they meet
other students through them.
SPEAKER_02 (31:56):
And then when they sh when the students show up uh
for school and you know, move inday and and they're starting,
they have somebody they know andthey often reach out.
SPEAKER_01 (32:06):
Yes, no, absolutely.
And I was I was just gonna say,and does, you know, every kind
of school does you utilizestheir program differently, but
often um the pr orientationleader will reach out to the
student a couple times over thesummer too and say, here's my
contact info.
If you yes, to stay connectedand make sure if you have
questions, and because so oftenstudents will have questions on,
(32:28):
you know, I gotta do the newstudent checklist and I don't
know how to log in, and where doI click on this and where do I
go to give my health forms andall the things that am I allowed
to bring a fridge?
Yes, I guess.
No, you can't bring your petalligator, but you can bring,
you know, so all the things, andI think it's just a tr again, a
trusted mentor um that just makeit such a fun introduction to
(32:52):
the school to the school and umyou know tell students things
that they don't even know theydon't know about living there
and kind of what to bring.
Because again, students aren'talways great about reading
everything they're sent, butonce they're told by someone and
um, you know, they they reallyconnect with them um because
they're with them all day long.
SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
And you know, when I've seen OLs in action when
I've been at orientation, theyhave so much energy.
Oh my gosh, and they're soexcited, and so part of what I
think they're working on doingis pumping the kids up to be
excited to come because the thethis the students are plenty
nervous.
Absolutely, they're reallynervous, and they're being fed
(33:35):
lots of information, and that'simportant.
There's a lot of informationthey need, and they're being
asked to do a lot of things.
But a big part of what those OLsare doing is just getting them
excited about being here andabout meeting other people, and
I mean it's the it's theattitude needs to sphere that's
(33:56):
a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:57):
And they also kind of put help put things in
perspective because they knowthe students are getting so much
information that they're notgonna remember and kind of
reminding them don't worry, youdon't have to memorize any of
this, and we're here to help,and kind of giving them
shortcuts to the important stuffthat they really need right
away, and making them just feelconnected to the school, to each
(34:17):
other.
And you know, if your studentleaves with a you know kind of
contact info of the orientationleader as well as a friend or
two they've met, I mean, they'regolden for the rest of the
summer.
They connect with that personand um, you know, can ask their
questions as they come upbecause the most random things
come up and they're like, Well,what department?
How do I find who I talk?
And if they they can just reachout right to the orientation
(34:40):
leader, it just uh resolves somuch anxiety, right, and angst
right away, which is what wewant.
SPEAKER_02 (34:48):
Um so that they're excited about coming and
starting school.
So those are really the kind offormal things.
There are a couple others that Ijust wanted to touch on um in
terms of peer support.
We're talking about peerssupporting peers.
Um and one for excuse me, onefor um students who are athletes
(35:13):
uh is their team captain.
And the the the team captain, II think is usually elected by
the team.
Um and so especially if astudent is coming in as a as a
first-year student on the team.
In fact, I just talked to astudent um a couple of days ago
who said I was really kind ofnervous coming in to this team
(35:37):
that's been, you know, it's beena good team and it's been been a
tight team.
They've been together for ayear.
Yeah, they've been together.
And he said they made me feel sogood, and the team captain, you
know, told me things I needed toknow.
So um team captains are you knowreal real leaders, it's a it's a
leadership position.
They set the tone for the team.
(35:59):
Sometimes they work at holdingaccountability.
Accountable, yep, accountablefor, you know, they they let
them know the the kind of theteam culture.
Different teams have differentdifferent ways of being, being
together, differentexpectations.
Team Cap can can be a reallygood liaison between the new
(36:19):
athlete and the coach.
Absolutely sometimes, you know,don't tell the coach this, or
you know, don't and the coach isgonna want to know this.
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
Or make sure you get to these practices on time and
they're not optional and and andthose sorts of things.
SPEAKER_02 (36:32):
So it's a real opportunity for a new student
who happens to be an athlete toconnect with an upper class
student in a more in a littlebit more informal way.
Um and and some of theexpectations can be around
academics, you know, we expecteveryone on this team to to have
(36:52):
this standard or uh aroundbehavior.
SPEAKER_01 (36:56):
Yeah, and to kind of add to that, I mean there's two
things.
So one thing we we offer arekind of study hours, um, and and
teams are supposed to actuallydo a certain number of hours,
and uh, you know, we have themin our library now.
Um, and it's a greatopportunity.
Um, even if in and some studentsfeel like, well, I'm doing fine.
I don't I don't need that.
But you can always do better andyou can always do yourself a
(37:19):
favor by having some dedicatedtime, and you'll connect with
your teammates in a way that,you know, yes, you're supposed
to be studying, but there's, youknow, you have some downtime and
you can connect.
So always encourage I alwaysencourage students to go, and
they're always glad they didbecause they get work done, they
connect with students that maybethey haven't met so much on
(37:39):
their team because maybe they'renot in their major and they're a
couple years old or something,but it's just a great
opportunity um to to kind of geteverything you possibly can out
of out of this team environment.
And you know, it's always goodtoo to encourage your student
athletes um to do whateveropportunities are presented.
And by that I mean, for example,we have for new students, um,
(38:02):
some folks do things like thisat orientation or during cut
welcome weekend.
Um, but we've done this um forseveral years that seem to have
worked very well, um, where wetalk to coaches from all the
sports, you know, the men'steams, women's teams, and we get
a variety of um athletes thattypically juniors and seniors
(38:23):
that the coaches haverecommended.
May they may or may not be teamcaptain, but they're leaders and
they're role models, and they,you know, they do a great job
kind of welcoming, you know,formally or informally, but
they're they're a good they'regood role models.
And so we've had panels where umthe staff in my office will ask
them questions, and then youknow, and the first year
(38:45):
students are encouraged,required, minute, something, get
your butt there.
Um, and you know, most do,especially if they'll do what
their coaches tell them to do.
If their coaches say you need toget your butt there, they will.
Um, but it's a great environmentand avenue for students to learn
from students who have been sickwho are successful athletes and
are doing well, and we can tellthem the same thing till we're
(39:08):
blue in the face, and they'relike, Yeah, whatever.
But then when they're, you know,folks that they kind of start,
you know, have just met or lookup to and they're telling them
the same thing, like, yeah, makesure you don't wait till a month
in to start your reading.
Like you're never gonna catch upin that semester, you know,
different things that make somuch.
SPEAKER_02 (39:27):
They can help students understand how to find
that balance between athleticsand um academics, because if
their academics slip, they'renot going to play athletics.
So um they often have a lot ofadvice around that sort of thing
and even around schedules andand all I know when I've worked
(39:48):
with athletes, one of thequestions I often ask them is
are you are you better as astudent when you're in season or
not?
And so and they really do, and Ithink they get some of this
information from their teamcaptains and the the leaders on
the team of saying, yeah, when Iwhen I'm in season, I want a
(40:11):
little bit lighter schedule.
I want to, I wanna maybe classesthat aren't quite as heavy, or
maybe I'll even do one lessclass or something.
And then I have other studentswho say, oh no, time management.
I need to be student.
When I'm in season, I'm focused,I am, you know, I bring it on.
I that's when I do my best work.
(40:31):
So and then I get a little lazywhen I'm off season.
SPEAKER_01 (40:35):
So no, and then and that speaks to like you're
saying, scheduling for specificcourses too, for specific
majors.
Um, you know, make sure ifyou're taking that lab, don't
take it during our seasonbecause that's gonna go till 10
o'clock at night and blah, blah,blah.
So, I mean, I think it's sohelpful for students to relate
to others.
And and and one thing, you know,too.
(40:55):
Well, of course, we tellstudents, you know, this is your
make sure you look XYZ place foryour registration day on your on
your portal and all thosethings, and make sure you
register first thing you can soyou get the classes you need.
And you know, you can inwardlyhear, see their eyes rolling,
right?
But when when the when the teamcaptain or the team leaders are
there saying, Listen, you don'twant any more, you know,
(41:18):
afternoon courses um on whenyou're in season and your games
start at one in the afternoon,so you need to register as soon
as you possibly can.
Do not miss your registrationtime, or you are not gonna get
the class times you want, oryou're gonna end up with classes
that you may, you know, not havebeen your first choice.
And so things like that, they'llresonate with them in a way that
they kind of believe more sothan when we say it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:41):
And you know, I think for students who are not
athletes, uh sometimes if theyfind um a group, a club or
something like that, the samesort of thing can happen.
It's not quite as formal.
Yeah, it's not quite as formalas as athletics teams, athletic
teams.
But all right, I just want totouch on one more because it's
(42:03):
often, you know, you know, wedon't think of it necessarily as
peer support.
Um, but that is simply students'friends, the friends that they
have.
Um having them think carefullyabout the friends that they
choose uh and whether they havesimilar values uh and are going
(42:25):
to be a a support for them.
And we have a um I think I thinkwe have a I know there's a an
article on the website, and Ithink we have a podcast.
This we're we're over 150episodes now, and I'm trying to
try to remember all of them.
Um about about friends and andall of that, that often the
(42:46):
friends when when students firstcome to college, their friends
are friends of convenience.
They're the people that live ontheir floor, they're the people
that might be in a class withthem.
And then as they move alongthroughout first year and
definitely into second year,sometimes those friends fall
away and they begin to find thefriends who really they have
(43:09):
things in common.
But but recognizing, I mean,sometimes sometimes those
friendships formed in collegeare the ones that last a
lifetime, right?
They're the maids of honor andthe and the groomsman and the
best man and um and thegodfathers and the godmothers
and and all of those.
(43:30):
Um, and so helping studentsthink about, you know, who their
friends are, how they choosetheir friends, their roommate
does not need to be their bestfriend.
SPEAKER_01 (43:39):
Yes, and I see that uh we see that often, and we
often encourage students not to,if they're coming from the same
high school and in the samefriend group, it's not it's
often not the best idea to roomwith someone they already know.
SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
You know, I have some friends that I dearly love,
but I would not want to livewith.
And it's a different thing.
So not not feeling, you know, ifyour roommate doesn't become
your best friend, that meansthey're not a good roommate.
No, if you have similar, youknow, ways of living, that's
just fine.
SPEAKER_01 (44:10):
And um and it's hard to be around the same people no
matter how much you enjoy them24-7.
And it's often it it it can becomplicated and difficult to
have a roommate who you whom youwere thinking might be your best
friend or are thinking you know,you're if you're with each other
a lot, um, especially if you'rein the same major too, like it's
(44:31):
sometimes helpful to have um,you know, just different outlets
and you know, different ways ofbeing.
And and you know, one thing Itell students when they've, you
know, they're in high school andthey're kind of filling out the
form and they're I say, you knowwhat, it's great that you'll,
you know, you'll know someone atthe school that you can always
connect with.
But if you room with each if youeach room with a different
(44:52):
roommate, you still have eachother, but then you also have
your new roommate whom you'll behopefully friendly with and meet
their friends, and then you'reCurrent friends, roommates, and
that like your circle widensexponentially.
And then you just have such abigger network and people you're
friendly with.
And again, no, everyone doesn'thave to be best friends, but
friendly and places to go andthings to do and friendly faces
(45:14):
on campus, and you just widenyour circle so much more from
the get-go.
Good advice.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (45:21):
Yeah.
So so just, you know, havinghaving students sort of think
about the the support thatfriends can be.
And are they choosing thefriends that do support them?
You know, does this friend liftyou up or does this friend bring
you down?
SPEAKER_01 (45:35):
Right.
Or does this friend kind ofencourage you to make not the
best choices and you notice thatafter the semester?
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
And then students also thinking about how to be a
good friend, you know, becausethat sense of support, I, you
know, I see such tightfriendships in in college.
I mean, when you're livingtogether or spending this kind
of time and you're going througha kind of an emotional those
four years of college, there's alot going on.
(46:02):
And so the people that thatyou're with, and I've had some
students, that sense ofbelonging, I've had some
students say, I'm really, youknow, I'm toying with
transferring, I'm not sure aboutthings, but I can't leave my
friends.
Exactly.
And and I'm gonna stay herebecause I have such such good
friends now.
SPEAKER_01 (46:21):
And and I've seen, I mean, I remember 100 years ago
when I was in school, and um,you know, there was, you know,
you meet people and everybody'sfrom kind of different places,
and you get to know folks.
And I remember um one of ourfriends, she had kind of changed
majors a couple of times, wasn'tsuper sure what she wanted to
do, and then really startedtalking about this kind of
science major she was interestedin.
(46:41):
But, you know, you had to writea paper or, you know, not a one
or a few paragraphs just toexplain why you wanted to be in
this major.
And she kind of kept putting itoff and she's like, Well, I
don't really know, but we allwere listening to her and knew
that this is what she wanted todo.
It's like this stupid paper isreally preventing you.
So one of our friends whoactually was her roommate at the
time was like, sit your buttdown.
I'm writing this with you rightnow.
(47:02):
I'm helping you do this becausethis is we can hear and tell you
what you've been telling us.
Yes, we're hearing you, and Ithink you're, you know, she was
gun shy about pulling thetrigger because she'd tried a
couple other things, but it'slike all of your decisions have
led you to this point and allyour kind of nice story.
Literally, and she helped herwrite the three paragraphs, and
it was like literally she'dstill be wandering around, I
(47:25):
think, trying to make up hermind.
And it was just such a great andyou know, they're the we're
we're all the same age.
It's not like any of us had anywhatever, but it's like we
listen when you with good peoplewho are looking out for you, you
kind of listen and hear and cansay things in a way that
resonate when you're in a kindof state of flurry or whatever.
SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
So, bottom line, um, I think of what we what we've
been trying to put out there isuh there are lots of
opportunities for students towork with other students that
can be really enriching and uhand and helpful in a lot of
ways.
In a way we're not saying theprofessionals aren't doing their
(48:10):
job and aren't good to workwith, but that there is this
extra layer that can that can behelpful and and and so maybe
talking to your student or youknow, hopefully parents maybe
can feel a little better if thestudent comes home or you know
talks to you and says, Well, I'mworking with a peer tutor, and
(48:30):
not feeling like, oh, that's notnot gonna work as well.
Or um, and then it and you know,as you you know your student,
thinking about are there any ofthese kinds of positions you
might want to encourage them toinvestigate and and do, because
it is uh on both sides of thedesk, it's so many benefits.
SPEAKER_01 (48:52):
And I and I think you're so right because I think
so many parents don'tnecessarily think of those as
opportunities, but especiallyfor students who have probably
you know, many students havevery busy schedules.
So trying to get to anoff-campus job or commit to
something every weekend orwhatever is really challenging.
But if they're comfortable in asubject and they want a tutor
and it's their own choice, theirown choice, and also what hours
(49:13):
they choose, you know.
So if they don't have to make anappointment for this week if
they can't do it, but if theycan do a few hours here and
there when they can, that'sgreat, you know, spending money
and you know, again, just thebenefits on both sides of the
equation um are just wonderful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:29):
So parents have a conversation with your student
and and and relax a little bitand feel comfortable that um
there are lots of people uh ofall sorts around your student
taking care of them.
Well said.
So thanks for being with us.
Thanks.
If you made it here to the end,thanks for sticking with us to
(49:49):
the end.
We hope we gave you somethingthat is useful and you will have
some conversations with yourstudent.
And so we will see you nexttime.
Thank you so much.
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