Honors Peer Educators

All current Interdisciplinary Honors Students who have completed Honors 100 are eligible to apply to the role.

Honors course credit: As a first time peer educator, you will receive two credits for each quarter of your enrollment in HONORS 397: Honors Peer Educator Leadership Development, for a total of 4 credits for the year. After completion of autumn quarter, these credits are combined to count towards one of your five required Honors additional any courses, and also count towards UW’s General Education I&S Area of Knowledge.

Priority Registration for an Honors course: All PE’s will be invited to request priority registration for one Honors course offered in the winter quarter following completion of the role.

Experiential Learning: This experience is eligible for application to the Honors Program Experiential Learning requirement.

During both spring and autumn quarters, Peer Educators meet weekly with one another and the Honors 100 instructors to develop their courses collaboratively, discuss important questions, and reflect on challenges related to teaching and mentoring. These meetings provide a supportive environment to openly discuss the successes and challenges of leading an Honors 100 section.

In addition to weekly meetings, in both spring and autumn the Honors Instructors check in with every student individually mid-quarter to discuss progress, give feedback, and hold space for questions. Pre-quarter and end of quarter individual reflection assignments help instructors prepare for these check-ins and help guide the conversation. The reflection assignments are also used as a tool to inform Peer Educators, who often find these assignments helpful for informing their quarterly goals, as well as capturing the growth and progress they have made through the experience.

Outside of class, check-ins, and individual reflection assignments, all Peer Educators will get comprehensive feedback on each lesson plan from their instructors, as well as space in class to ask questions about and incorporate the feedback prior to submitting their final lesson plans at the end of spring quarter (while space in class is provided to ask questions about and get support from peers and instructors to incorporate lesson plan feedback, Peer Educators will still need to dedicate time outside of class to work on their lesson plans).

Finally, the overnight Peer Educator retreat in early spring allows Peer Educators to learn more about themselves, their peers, and instructors, deepening our connection as a cohort and building trust in each other.

“I made more connections [during the retreat] than I had all quarter. It was really nice to get to know my fellow Peer Educators in a way that isn’t exactly possible in a classroom setting…I knew that I admired each and everyone of my colleagues, but learning that they felt the same way really warmed my heart. ” –Taylor Halverson, 2017 Peer Educator

You don’t need to have extensive leadership, public speaking or curriculum planning experience to be selected as a Peer Educator, however, you do need to have a desire to challenge yourself, learn, and grow in the spring training course and autumn seminar with the support of your peers and Honors 100/397 Instructors.

Here are some qualities we look for in potential Peer Educators, please note that this list is not extensive:

• Desire to understand educational equity in more depth, as well as a desire to create an inclusive and supportive classroom environment
• Ability to speak through personal experience, and a willingness to share some of those personal experiences/stories with your students
• Creativity and enthusiasm for supporting the Honors Program and larger UW community
• Strong organizational and time management skills; demonstrated ability to balance a variety of activities, including academics and extracurricular activities.
• Demonstrated involvement on campus or in the community OR articulated desire to build leadership experience
• Ability to articulate the value and purpose of assignments, activities, and lessons
• Strong interpersonal communication skills: ability to work well with peers, new students, staff; ability to listen and respond to individuals’ questions and concerns; ability to help others problem solve and make decisions.
• Collaboration skills- be open to learning from and with fellow PE’s and be motivated to tailor/personalize the Honors 100 lesson plans with other PE’s
• Public speaking ability- be comfortable presenting in front of an audience of 15–20 people and facilitating discussions AND/OR have a desire to improve and a willingness to challenge yourself in the spring H397 course

Please see the Requirements and Key Deadlines section above for more information about the course requirements, overnight retreat, as well as other required events.

Have you served as an Honors Peer Educator in the past? Returning PEs are eligible to apply to serve as a Lead Peer Educators (LPEs), with additional responsibilities for Honors elective credit. The application form for LPEs is the same. To learn more about this role, email Nadra at honors100@uw.edu.