Stella Kelley
Staff Writer
Beginning the third week in September, peer leaders began conducting meetings with freshmen during their Non-Western World class periods every Thursday. During their meetings, they will discuss navigating and coping with the social and academic pressures that often face them in high school. Some freshmen view peer leadership as just another class that they are forced to take. However, for other freshmen peer leadership can be an exciting time for underclassmen to connect with older students.
Through weekly meetings that include team bonding games, questions, and exciting new information, peer leaders are hoping that freshmen will open up and participate in order to get the most benefit possible out of the sessions. Senior peer leader Riley Brennan stated. “It is my first year being a peer leader, and a goal of mine has been to relay information to my group that is not only informative and helpful, but realistic and relevant to them and their time in high school.”
Peer leaders are selected through an application process with includes feedback from teachers, essay submissions, an interview with a guidance counselor, teacher, and former peer leader. Once applicants are accepted, they choose a partner to work with for the duration of the school year. These partnerships plan agendas, create fun games, and even bring snacks to their freshmen group meetings each week.
During the first week of meetings, peer leaders met with their groups for the first time. These meetings generally involve team building and getting to know each other games, as well as discussions concerning the overview of what future meetings would be covering. In the upcoming week, most peer leadership groups will begin discussing the academic components of high school, such as; rigor of classes, homework, organization, time management, procrastination, and teachers.
