Starting university life can be a challenge. Between increased academic workloads, new relationships, busy schedules, and often living on your own for the first time, the transition to college life can be both exciting and stressful for new students.
To aid incoming freshmen in navigating the uncertainties of adapting to life on campus, the University of South Florida (USF) Judy Genshaft Honors College offers student-to-student mentorship and advisory courses to connect new students with a variety of resources to ease their transition to USF.
On the Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses, incoming Honors students are required to participate in Honors Foundations as part of the Honors College curriculum. Over the ten-week, tuition-free course, new students will share their experiences with each other, begin to form connections with peers, faculty, and staff, and start to develop new networks of people, places, and resources around USF.
Led by student instructors known as peer mentors, the Honors Foundations course features discussion-based and interactive activities to help build friendships while course objectives cover topics such research, degree planning, LinkedIn advice, and crucial life skills.
BUILDING A TEAM OF PEER MENTORS
While the Honors Foundations course last for only ten weeks each fall, the preparation and training to ensure students have the tools they need to act as peer mentors goes on behind the scenes year-round.
Under the direction of Honors Advisor Kevin Lee and graduate assistant Anrae Stephenson-Frazier, peer mentor leads (PMLs) are recruited from the pool of returning peer mentors each fall and over the course of the Spring semester are themselves taught how to train new peer mentors. Through multiple training sessions and development retreats over the spring and summer, the program directors and PMLs help the peer mentors gain a comprehensive understanding of the Honors Foundations curriculum so that they can be ready to share it with incoming students the following fall.
"It’s kind of like the tutorial level for the Judy Genshaft Honors College." – Honors student Joseph Ambrosino
For PMLs Joseph Ambrosino and Tanmayee Kanagala, being in a mentorship position has been exciting and rewarding.
Both attest to the fact that having a smooth transition into college from high school can be daunting, and that learning from peers, in addition to faculty and advisors, is fundamental to a freshman's success in finding their community and succeeding in their course work.
“I remember all the stress I had about coming to USF as an out-of-state student and that having a small class to connect with and a welcoming peer mentor helped so much,” said Kanagala.
“It’s kind of like the tutorial level for the Judy Genshaft Honors College,” said Ambrosino. “It’s your right of passage to go through this ten-week experience. It’s giving you a sense of how the controls work, where to go, who to see, and putting everything on the table: This is everything you need. Let me help you figure this out.”
FULL CIRCLE MOMENTS
After completing the Honors Foundations course during their first semester at USF, both Kanagala and Ambrosino were motivated to give back to the Honors community.
“My favorite thing is connecting with students, being able to teach them about Honors values and to support their wellness by being that person they can come to for support,” said Ambrosino.
Peer mentors are provided with a syllabus for the Honors Foundation course, but have creative freedom over how they choose to build and instruct course activities. Each peer mentor has the opportunity to build a unique experience for their section.
“I think that’s the great thing about teaching Honors Foundations, in that there was so much flexibility with teaching our lesson plan,” said Kanagala. “What Joey did for an activity is not what I did – and that was OK. Because as long as the students got the information then that’s how they got the information.”
With a pedagogy based on student wellness, peer mentors strive to create safe and inclusive spaces for students to seeks advice on the challenges they are facing and also share their success.
“I remember when I first got into the Honors College, I wasn’t the best student that there was ... and I really needed someone to get me back onto pace. For me that was my peer mentor,” said Ambrosino. “I want to be that person for someone else. I want to provide that level of support for somebody. “
Students can read more about peer mentorship at USF, learn more about Honors Foundations on the Honors website, or follow the Honors Peer Mentors on Instagram.