Student mentors
The idea of having students talk at orientation struck me as a good one. Is there anyone who does that, and how have you set it up?
What we have done at our school is to ask current students who are having good expieriences speeak. Thay are always more then willing to.
Students, like everyone else, love to tell their story. We just need to make sure they represent us as we would like! Generally speaking, the students who are excited to be at your college will willing particpate.
Susan
We always have what we call alumni roundtable events. This event allows a mediator (facutly) to ask questions of the alumni and the students benefit. Students, of course, ask questions too. They always bring up experiences that all students seem to go through. It is a great way for new students to see that they are just like others that have been successful and that they too can get through things. We've never done this at orientation though. Why? This is huge! I am definitely going to incorporate this into our scheduling for the orientation period. We know how to do it...and there is no reason why we can't have one roundtable for each phase of our program.
Hi, Tammy! Welcome to the class. I hope you continue to get lots of good ideas on to incorporate in to an orientation and first-week plan. If you can take the time to read through all the discussion threads, there have been some excellent ideas presented and discussed.
The idea of having a round table for each 'phase' of your program sounds like a good one. I have no idea how many phases you have, but it's always a good 'temperature taking' activity. The information you receive via feedback can be utilized to enhance existing services and also as selling points for Admissions to talk about with new students.
Susan
I believe the right way to have someone to qualify for the mentoring should be a student close to graduation and that has done moderately well. They are the perfect candidates to share their knowledge.
Ailen--
Absolutely! Often times we try to pick the 'star' graduate and, while that can be motivating, it is much more appropriate to ask a student as you described. More of the new students can relate to someone like that.
Susan
At our school we have had graduates speak at orientation with great results. We especially like to hear from the students who had a rough start, but overcame obstacles. It is very inspiring to the "newbies" to learn that not all is rosy in the beginning, but good things can still happen.
Hi, Karen!
This is an excellent practice! It is always best to have someone else 'tell the story'...and successful graduates are our best testimonials.
Susan
We have very large orientation classes and have talked about adding student speakers. Our graduate speakers often tell heartbreaking stories about overcomming many obsticles to get through school. I think students need to hear that no matter how tough their lives are there are others who had it worse.
Hi, David!
I completely agree. No one tells the story quite like a personal experience and your graduates are in an excellent position to let others know they can overcome any obstacles their are currently facing.
Susan
At our school we have student tutors; it seems that the students will listen to a peer more willingly than an instructor. We can say the same things but they almost always take their peers word over ours. This does help out a lot.
Andrew--
That is so true in many cases. Not sure why that is, but we tend to listen to peers more than authority figures. Having a peer tutoring function is a great benefit.
Susan
We have student council and a service club called Iron Toque that have strict guidelines for the students to follow and one of the requirements is to mentor new students.
They also come to new student orientation and talk about their experiences here at school and at the same time they try to recruit new members to their club. It has been very successful because the new students feel welcomed by their peers and they get excited to join all of the clubs.
Geraldine--
That sounds wonderful! Are there specific requirements to join your Iron Toque? Are they advised by a member of the faculty or staff?
Susan
