EL2 - Honors Peer Educator
Application Materials
Expand each question to view my original response
-
Honors Peer Educator
Honors 100 Au22
-
As a peer educator, I will practice leadership and communication skills while teaching my own section of HONORS 100 first-year students. Serving as a resource and friend for these incoming students, I will help them navigate honors program requirements, introduce them to campus resources, and help them get engaged and involved in community-building activities in class and out. Using my own prepared lesson plans, I will facilitate classes, give presentations, run mini-workshops for their academic planning or portfolio needs, and organize classroom activities on a weekly basis. This activity will require lots of prior planning and engagement outside of the classroom, so time management and pacing is key!
-
Serving as a Peer Educator aligns heavily with the leadership category of Honors Experiential Learning as it incorporates planning, execution, and collaboration phases throughout my time in training and teaching as a Peer Educator. From the vision of designing lesson plans and practicing presentations, to collaborating and working with feedback in the previous spring preparation seminar, to pulling off all these activities in the class during the autumn quarter, every step of my peer educator journey is an opportunity to grow my skills as a leader and resource for those transitioning to the UW campus for the very first time.
-
After my former peer educator and former professor encouraged me to consider the position, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and apply to the program to understand where my leadership capabilities were at that given moment at time, and see where I could take them. Aside from experience in presenting and facilitating activities, I wish to see how far I can go as a friend/educator package without overstepping my own or other student's professional boundaries. I believe it is incredibly importantly to learn how to humanize the many faces at college and encourage new folks to explore the seemingly big and daunting world of college, and I want to learn how to do that in a professional, effective, yet friendly and inviting manner.
-
As a former student of HONORS 100, I understand how overwhelming the new college environment can be. But at the same time, what I learned from that class and my following honors classes is that there are countless opportunities and experiences to be had in the program that are unlike any other courses at the UW. I hope to share these with my own HONORS 100 students, and also get them excited about their own future and goals here at University. As for me and my broader education goals, I would love to get more education and presentation experience and confidence under my belt with people around my age, and understand how to approach important conversations in a classroom and professional setting since I hope to be an educator in the future.
-
Practicing all of these skills as a Peer Educator allows for a better understanding and familiarity of honors program requirements and resources by our incoming freshmen. This bridges the gap of disconnect between incoming students and advising staff or programming directors, and allows for me to give my students advice or pointers based on first-hand experiences of my own journey through honors so far. With students having direct access to me as a PE, they will be able to ask questions and also know where to access resources within the honors program and university as a whole - many of which are important foundations to have when navigating the rest of your UW and honors career.
-
Estimated hours per week: 5
Estimated project start: 10/04/2022
Estimated project end: 12/09/2022
Supervisor Feedback
"By now, I am sure you can relate to how much it means to me as your instructor to read all of your thoughts and takeaways from this experience. I am so glad that it helped expand your thinking around leadership and helped you reframe and adjust your own expectations for yourself as a leader. I love what you wrote about the importance of knowing the people around you, and of building community for vulnerability and growth. You are a natural educator, Samantha. I love the energy, support, and creativity that you bring. You have a bright future ahead of you regardless of what you do. It has been an absolute joy to get to know you through this experience, thank you! I hope you have a restful break and that I see you again soon in the new year :)"
