The 2019 Peer Educators at our Pack Forest retreat (w/o Kiran and Lara)! Easily one of my favorite parts of Spring quarter, because it's a time to just get away from technology for a bit and bond with some really cool people. Wish all of college could be like this!
When I first signed on to be a Peer Educator again, I admit I was a bit skeptical about going through the Spring seminar again. I had already done the retreat and created most of my lesson plans, so I was worried that this would just be repetitive and pointless. However, thanks to the ~magic~ of reflection that Honors taught me, taking this class again felt...different. I noticed within the first couple of weeks that I wasn't the same person I was two years ago. I'm older, maybe an inch taller, but most of all I'm more confident in myself than I used to be. This seminar served as a nice opportunity to reflect on how far I've come in terms of self-esteem and personal growth. When I came away from the retreat, I had the exciting feeling that I was actually liked by my peers, and that I was worthy of being liked by them. It sounds a little silly typing it out, but it was a huge thing for me to come away from an experience confident in myself a little more than previously.
As for growth in terms of leadership/community teaching, I found that coming back as a soon-to-be senior made me feel like I was able to play more of a guiding role for the new Peer Educators. I think I did a good job at including others in conversations and encouraging them to critically look at their lesson plans. This was big for me, because in previous experiences I've usually been the person who has had needed to be on the receiving end of that guidance. Beyond helping others, I appreciated the chance to look back on my old lesson plans and make some much needed changes. It was nice to learn from my peers and use their suggestions within my own lesson plans. I think this time around, along with my boosted confidence, my students are going to benefit from some revised and better thought out lesson plans.
Overall, I'm grateful for what the spring seminar showed me about my growth, and looking forward to working with these people in the Fall along with my new students!
This is an icebreaker that I made for my students to do right before their portfolio presentations in order to calm their nerves. While this isn't directly related to Honors content, I'm proud of this activity because it's something I came up with on my own. A lot of my lesson plans my first year were pretty heavily based on 1-2 other peoples' plans, but this year I worked harder at making the lesson plans my own. I still incorporated other people's suggestions and unique ideas, but to me this activity represents once again my increased sense of confidence and belonging in this leadership position.
This is my final reflection for my second Peer Educator experience. Writing this reflection surprised me, because I think part of me thought my second time being a Peer Educator would just be a repeat of my first. In answering these questions, I realized that despite how much I have grown over the past two years, this experience was still able to teach me more about my idea of leadership and what I hold important.