Since August of 2021, Academic Support Programs has offered peer mentoring.  

The original focus of the program was on students who did not have a normal first-year experience due to the Covid-19 shutdown and online learning. The goal was on helping students make connections as they began their second year. 

For the fall of 2022, the program was expanded to all incoming students, including transfer students, reentry students and incoming freshman. 

Mentors started reaching out to mentees towards the end of spring and continued communication through the summer. They reached out through email and text. Most of the messages sent were mainly checking in and seeing how summer was going for the mentees. Closer to the start of the fall semester, the mentors started sharing different tips to help the students prepare for the start of classes. 

Peer mentoring is still working out some problems that come with starting a new program, but according to Tami Boebel, the program coordinator, things are working out incredibly well. “It’s really fulfilling to see things happen between the mentors and mentees. They are creating connections and forming a community,” Boebel said.  

To be a mentor for the program, a student needs a cumulative GPA of 2.8+ and must be physically on campus for at least a semester.     

When asked about the requirements, Boebel said, “We want mentors who know where things are on campus and know where different programs are located. As for the GPA requirement, we don’t want someone who is struggling academically, simply because we don’t want to add extra stress onto their plates.”  

When asked if she had anything she wanted other students to know about the program, Boebel said, “Please don’t wait until you are struggling with classes or life to reach out for help.”  

Students interested in being a peer mentor can apply through Handshake, a program for hiring student employees, and search for peer mentoring. 

 Peer Mentoring is located on the first floor of Karrmann Library between the testing center and ITS. The program has 12 mentors on the main campus with one mentor for each branch campus and there are roughly 1700 student mentees.