Building a Peer Mentorship Program

College is one of the first major adult steps many of us will take in our lives. “Many of our students are moving away from the only place they have ever lived, finding themselves in a new environment without any friends or family,” said College of Business Director of Undergraduate Studies Tara Smith. According to her research, these circumstances commonly lead to struggles like social isolation and unclear expectations for new freshmen, resulting in lowering retention rates, graduation rates, grade point averages and increasing incidences of academic probation. To help new students, Smith devised the plan of adding a peer mentorship program to the College’s initiatives where student mentees will be paired with student mentors at new student orientation. “I hope the relationship creates a deeper sense of belonging and eases anxiety of the unknown, knowing they have a fellow student to turn to who has been in their shoes,” said Smith. Mentors would be encouraged to regularly meet with their mentees throughout the semester in addition to attending College hosted activities for the program. During the fall semester, Smith’s Graduate Assistant, Vanesa Fontes Nava, began to implement a beta version of the program. However, Nava said they were faced with some challenges. “It was difficult getting mentees to overcome the negative stigma behind ‘needing help’ as well as keeping mentors motivated to participate.” Both Smith and Nava agreed that taking steps in building awareness of the program before students start their first semester, and even communicating with parents about the program may be beneficial. “Successful mentorship programs have made a huge impact on student success at other institutions,” said Smith who feels like the test was a great opportunity to find out what would encourage students to participate. “Other schools have the benefit of offering scholarships and other incentives to a select group of mentors, but for us, I think by building our awareness and adjusting the timing of our implementation and promotion- then we can make a strong start for the program this fall.”