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| Photo courtesy of Maddie Gionet |
Peer Coaching Program makes stride on improving students’ first-year experience
By Maddie Gionet, features editor, @MaddieGNA
ST. BONAVENTURE (Oct. 16) -– It’s like having a superhero for a friend. That’s how Kate Timony would describe a peer coach.
As an incoming freshman this year, Timony can attest that these so-called superheroes live up to their motto: “We’ve got your back!”
“I panicked before my first exam,” the freshman biology major said. “I got a hold of my peer coach, who is also a bio major, and she helped me calm down and told me what to expect.”
The St. Bonaventure University Peer Coaching Program matches incoming freshmen and transfer students with upperclassmen known as peer coaches and peer leaders, said Abby Cohen, assistant director for the First Year Experience. These upperclassmen give them a helping hand and a familiar face through their first year of college.
“Your peer coach is basically your go-to person,” Cohen said. “It’s someone who you can use as a resource, one specific person to contact if you have questions, someone to welcome new students into the Bona family.”
Timony is one of approximately 580 freshmen and transfer students participating in the newly revamped Peer Coaching Program. In its third year, the program has begun to implement new changes to make the program more beneficial for all incoming students.
Cohen said the program had a stigma attached to it for the past two years, discouraging students from utilizing the program.
“It used to be, ‘Oh, you have a peer coach? Why?’” she said. “Last year, we assigned all our CORE students a peer coach as well as students who had an opportunity to sign up for a peer coach at Orientation.”
The CORE Program categorizes students with low SAT scores or low grade point averages to hopefully make it easier for students to transition into college.
Nancy Casey, director of the First Year Experience, said after having a pilot program during the 2009-2010 academic year and doing an internal assessment of the program, it was decided by the FYE committee that peer coaches should be given to each incoming student.
“It’s a way to reach students too shy to ask for one,” Casey said, “students who don’t think they need or want one.”
So far, this change to the program is showing promise, said Will Elenchin, professor of sociology, who helped Casey develop the program at St. Bonaventure.
“The peer leaders have done a great job of picking up some of the work and connecting with the peer coaches,” he said.
Twenty students interviewed had different opinions on the peer coaching program.
Ten found the program to be beneficial to their college transition.
“It’s nice to have someone help you make friends, answer questions and show you around if you need it,” said Kelsey Telek, a freshman education major.
Five said they didn’t need the program, and five said they thought the program was a good idea, but not necessary for them.
“I made friends really easily and used my RA and other people to help me get used to campus,” said Laura Daniels, a freshman education major.
Six St. Bonaventure students made up the group of peer leaders Elenchin spoke of. Once peer coaches, the now peer leaders act as the go-between for the peer coaches and faculty running the program.
Abbie Milliman, a peer leader, said giving the freshmen a hand is beneficial to both incoming students and peer coaches.
“When they’re having a rough day, and they need a bump of encouragement, we’re there for them,” said Milliman, a senior elementary and special education major. “And as an education major, it’s a way for me to interact, to be there and to make SBU a home for each of them.”
All in all, Timony said whether students utilize the program or not, the peer coaching motto holds true.
“I expected the program to just be a Q&A format for troubleshooting the beginning of college,” she said. “It’s not like that, though. It’s like having an upperclassmen friend, not just a fact page.”
The Intrepid, 2011
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