Honors News Archive

News in Brief

Honors Peer Educators Prepare to Lead Next Fall

Jun 9, 2015
The 2015 Honors Peer Educators
The 2015-16 Honors Peer Educators at Camp Indianola

The Honors Interdisciplinary Program is excited to announce we have finalized our incoming class for 2015, which includes 225 incoming freshmen and 14 second year students. In September, these new students will join us in Honors 100, our first-year single-quarter intro to our curriculum and community. Honors 100—instructed by our Academic Services team—also incorporates the expertise and mentorship of 20 Peer Educators (PEs), upperclassmen in Honors who help first-year students connect with each other, learn about campus resources, and begin imagining and creating their unique Husky experience. Honors Peer Educators represent all majors and have diverse experiences studying abroad, performing research, and serving in various leadership roles—but all share a passion for the UW Honors Program and a desire to see first-year students succeed.

The 2015 Honors Peer Educators
The PEs discuss teaching as a collaborative exercise

Our Peer Educators have been building their leadership skills and developing their Fall lesson plans through a seminar also taught by Honors advisers Laura Harrington and Aley Willis. This year’s cohort recently participated in a retreat at Camp Indianola on the beautiful Kitsap Peninsula, where they bonded over roasting marshmallows and engaged in deep reflection about their unique leadership styles and personalities. The retreat wasn't purely social, it also helped the student leaders recognize their own strengths as well as the traits of their peers, plus tools for working with different styles. We look forward to collaborating with all of them in the year to come.

We asked a few of them: What are you most excited about in your role as a Peer Educator?

  • Caitlin McIlwain, first-time PE: "As a rising sophomore, I'm excited to reflect on my own freshman year in the Honors Program, and use it to help educate my incoming students as they create their own communities at UW!"

  • Anna Gallagher, returning PE: "I'm most excited to help students find welcoming communities on campus, like those I have in UW Honors and in an RSO called Undergraduate Women in Business."

  • Andi Gero, first-time PE: "I’m looking forward to helping students learn about the Honors curriculum and find a new interest or passion. I want to focus on creating a community in my Honors 100 class as a way to help make my students' transition into college as smooth, warm, and welcoming as possible."