Goals

Hey everyone!! VEISHEA 2011 is upon us. If only, like Chelsee, I did not have homework and quizzes all week long. Zach and Karen did a wonderful job leading class last week. It is amazing how quickly the semester is flying by. In a few short weeks we will be finished with 311, and expected to be excellent mentors!

The goal I came up with for next year relating to being a Hixson Peer Mentor was: Learn every 2011 Hixson by first name by the end of the semester. Last year I felt like I knew a lot of them by name, and could at least recognize the rest. However, this year I want to know them all by name. I feel like this task, despite sounding difficult, should be very achievable. With me leading two sections next year, I will directly interact on a regular basis, with a quarter of the students. Then another quarter will be in my sister sections. So, I should have very little problem learning about half of the students names. The last half will be the difficult part. I plan on attending almost all of the Monday night lectures. So, while I am there, I need go out and make a point of talking to all the students I don’t already know.

I have two more goals for next year’s class. I want to increase the interaction between my sections and our sister sections. Last year we had a couple of classes together, but they were all towards the end of the semester. I want to start the interactions between sections much earlier in the semester. The semester goes by VERY fast, and if you do not plan ahead you will miss those kinds of opportunities. I think increasing sister section activities will open up even more friendships between students. If they are ‘forced’ to interact with more people, they are more likely to find someone with similar interests.

I also want to increase how much time my section spends together outside of class. I know my freshman year, at the very end, we all went over to one of our mentor’s apartments and had supper and played rock band. I thought it was really fun, and our section bonded a lot through that experience. Last year, we really did not have a good spot to get together. So, we just decided to go out to eat at Hickory Park. Ideally I want to try and have at least three get-togethers outside of class. I feel like the students will enjoy it, and they will all get that much closer to each other. One positive about this is, next year I will have a decent size apartment, and could very easily have my entire section over.

This semester is going by very fast. However, I am really enjoying the time we are all spending together. I really like getting to know everyone and what experiences they have been through that make them who they are today.

Facilitate This Fixed

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Hixson Peer Mentors we are facilitators, but what does that really mean? We are here to help the students make the transition to college successfully. Some might have some problems, while others will not. We never know what to expect. Going into the fall semester last year, I could have never predicted what leading the class would be like. There were questions or response that I would have never expected no matter how long we prepared in 311.

We made a huge list of reasons why students might struggle while at ISU. I’m sure we could have spent the entire hour listing off other reasons. There is no way to know what each student will struggle with. Some might know all about financial aid, while others know how to budget their money. The way we can help our students the most is by being adaptable. We need to be able to change the way we do things, or change our daily schedules and spend some time outside of class with certain students. Some of them might just need that little extra help to be successful in college.

What I found effective last year is to leave open time during or at the end of class for questions about whatever. This is really important during the financial aid week. Last year we spent almost the entire class going over question that the students had, and you would be surprised at some of the questions they had.

Overall we are just here to help guide them. Show them a few things and let them do everything themselves, and when they have questions being able to help.