Personal Narrative: Becoming A Peer Leader

Freshmen year feels like such a long time ago and looking back I didn’t think, as a freshmen, that I would ever be a Peer Leader. Now I can’t see myself not being one. Over the course of the fall semester I was given the wonderful opportunity to guide 18 eager freshmen through their first semester at Texas A&M. My small group was simply amazing, they were sarcastically hilarious, they were driven, but most importantly they all cared. To top it off, I was matched with in my opinion the best partner available. Danielle allowed me to get out of my comfort zone, but at the same time she knew my weaknesses and assisted me through all my blemishes. One of the things I’m not great at is public speaking, but that is basically one of the requirements
when you lead a small group. Danielle knew this and allowed me to slowly speak more as I began to feel more comfortable. She never forced me to lead a presentation or a topic if I didn’t give her reassurance that I was capable. Now its fairly easy for myself to lead a small group and that is all because of my partner.
As a freshman, I didn’t take advantage of my peer leaders, Connor and Madison; I never reached out to them outside of class for advice or just to get to know them.
I personally didn’t want my freshmen to make the same mistake, so I made attempts to make myself available for them. Around the middle of the semester I gave out my schedule and told them, “if anyone wants to hangout, to get to know me better just text me.” Obviously, not everyone is going to want to get to know you, but in hindsight the week I was available the majority of my freshmen weren’t. My goal was to get to know every single one of them on a personal level, but I was only able to get to about 8 of them. In my opinion, I didn’t do a great job as a peer leader because of this. Now it’s the spring semester and the 8 kids that I did get comfortable with actually contact me and ask me to hangout. The other 10 don’t and I put the blame on myself. I think Mr. Miyagi said it best when he said, “No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher.” The fault is on my side and more than likely I’m not going to be a resource or a friend to those 10 from now on because they don’t feel comfortable with me. My plan for next year if I’m given another opportunity to be a peer leader is to set up more one-on-one hangouts with all of
them.
In my opinion, the most important thing a peer leader can do is actually care for their freshmen. The teaching of the frameworks and facilitation of the project are important parts of Business 101, but those are things a book can do. Peer leaders are supposed to be support systems for all the stresses and breakdowns that come with a first semester in college. They are also supposed to be an academic resource; advice on what courses to take, clubs to join, where to study, how to study. These are all things that are usually fairly new to all freshmen and a little guidance from a trusted companion goes a long way. As a freshman, I was completely lost and I didn’t look for these resources, but I also didn’t ask my peer leaders for any help. Ultimately, this led to my poor grades in both my Economics courses. Maybe if I felt more comfortable with my peer leaders I would have asked, but unfortunately I didn’t.
A peer leader needs to be able to learn as he/she progresses through the semester, adaptability is needed, and most importantly passion. Passion for what FBI provides and the ultimate goal of helping these kids become reflective learners, ethical leaders and hopefully they eventually spread the same message.