Peer Mentors Help New Students Imagine Themselves as Honors Huskies
Honors Peer Mentors enjoy a homemade trifle with hosts Robin & Bob Stacey at a Spring Appreciation Dinner - April 2, 2016
Spring is a great time at the University of Washington! New students and families are attending info sessions and touring campus, while our graduating seniors speed towards their own big transitions — all against the backdrop of our famously beautiful cherry blossoms. Amidst all the activity, it would be easy to feel overwhelmed as a young person at the start of your college career. Luckily, there is a group of Honors students making time to personalize UW.
Honors Peer Mentors share their experiences and insights with incoming freshmen eager to find out what's special about being an Honors Husky. As one of the first people new students connect with, Honors Peer Mentors are making an important contribution to our close-knit community of interdisciplinary learners. We were excited to thank them this year with a special dinner hosted by Honors Hanauer Professor Robin Stacey and her husband Bob Stacey, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
The Staceys led the dinner guests through a quick demo on how to combine the wealth of ingredients on the table into their own unique spring rolls — a perfect choice for interdisciplinary students used to grabbing knowledge from many places to develop fresh insights and well-informed personal approaches to learning! Conversation ranged from how the undergraduate experience has changed over the past decades to which celebrity couples are most inspiring to students. It was a wonderful evening!
Peer Mentors who couldn't make it to the first engagement caught up for pizza the following week and shared ideas about how to help new students overcome their shyness and what kind of events are the most conducive to build community. Many Peer Mentors will be coming to the next Honors Hearth event on April 21 and encouraging their mentees to attend and get social with others in our community.
UW Honors received approximately 4,000 applications to our undergraduate interdisciplinary program this year and we expect approximately 225 new students to matriculate with us this fall. Student volunteers like our Peer Mentors make a huge impact on our new Honors Huskies as they transition to the UW, making this change less bewildering and more human.
Thank you, Peer Mentors! We appreciate you letting us fill your plates (both literally and figuratively).