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President's Blog: From the Heart

Friends Helping Friends

By Eric F. Spina

Kristen Altenau Keen may be a champion for student wellbeing, but “no one thinks I’m cool,” she says with a laugh.

“I walk into a room of students, and I’m the oldest person in the room,” says the assistant dean of students and director of the Brook Center. "There is immense power in the student voice. Students leading the conversations around education and intervention sometimes have far greater impact than staff.”

That’s why the staff in the Brook Center and Multi-Ethnic Education and Engagement Center (MEC) are expanding the reach of UD’s peer education programs, which professionally train students to help their classmates with issues that range from sexual assault to anxiety. Now more than 100 strong, these student volunteers also offer educational programs that build a more inclusive campus for LGBTQ+ and students of color, breaking down barriers one at a time.

“These are feisty, awesome student leaders who want to change the world,” says Kristen.

After popping into a three-day intensive training session with new peer educators, I know that to be true. The students, part of four outreach programs — PAVE (Peers Advocating for Violence Education), Co-Pilots, Q*mmunity Leaders and Diversity Peer Educators — are unsung heroes. They’re the compassionate listener down the hall in Marycrest who helps a distraught student at 3 a.m. or the one who stands up to a student verbally abusing another in the student neighborhood. The Diversity Peer Educators help all students develop intercultural competencies and accept differences.

“As students, we understand the everyday challenges of our peers: whether it be the impossible organic chemistry exam that is seemingly causing the whole class stress or the struggle of trying to form lifelong friendships with a complete stranger from another part of the world who just happens to be randomly assigned to your freshman year dorm. Peer educators live through these experiences, and it allows us to enter into spaces of mutual understanding and trust with our peers,” says Michael Saylor, a senior biology major and PAVE peer educator who aspires to work as a physician’s assistant.

Mérida Allen, associate dean of students and executive director of MEC, notes that the peer educators “come from all walks of life to this work. Not every person in PAVE is a survivor. Not every person in Q is LGBTQ+. Some are allies. It’s a diverse group, and their work impacts their vocation,” she says.

Take the journeys of two recent PAVE alumni. Josh Segalewitz ‘20 is now as a response coordinator in the Title IX office at George Washington University, and Colleen McDaniel ‘17 is completing a Ph.D. in social psychology at Wayne State University with her dissertation focusing on male perpetration of sexual assault.

Tori Perez-Stable, a junior psychology major and a member of Co-Pilots, a peer health coaching group, is preparing for a career as a counselor or clinical psychologist. She says she’s noticed a significant shift in how students talk about mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety. “It’s less stigmatized, especially with males, who are starting to reach out more when they need help,” says Tori, who sees her volunteer work as a way of “contributing back” to the UD community.

While I believe that these peer educators are going to change the world as they enter it, they are making a difference *right now* to their fellow UD students.

“There is often the misconception that young adults have to wait until after college to make our mark on society,” says Michael. “We are told to be patient and to learn from the older generation, wait for our turn, and then prove ourselves worthy in this rapidly changing world. I wholeheartedly disagree with all of these statements.

“As peer educators, we have not only the chance, but the responsibility, to shape the world we want to live in.”

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