Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2013)
P R I N T : News Wednesday, November27,2013 **» 3 Students helping students succeed Donny Beach Associate Copy Editor W h a t is it about asking a teacher for help that strikes fear into the hearts of some first- year students? Is it the threat of authority? The fear of looking stupid for asking a question? Or maybe it’s just the shyness that comes from not knowing the teacher well. W hatever the reason, Clackamas Community College administrators are making strides to show they understand the uneasiness that some students have in addressing faculty with questions and asking for help. To combat those fears, two administrators created the peer assistant/peer mentor program at CCC in 2009. Four years later, it’s still going strong. The peer assistant/peer men toring program provides a mid dle ground for students seeking answers by employing specially trained students as assistants in various departments around campus. From advising to the call center, counseling to finan cial aid, the learning center to the Welcome Center, over eight departments house peer assis tants. Travis Swanson, a call center peer assistant, said he is proud to be a part of the mentoring team. It does great things, said Swanson, who is in his first term as a peer assistant. “I think it’s a real positive middle ground,” Swanson said. “I like the fact that the informa tion comes from fellow students, someone who has gone through the same process themselves.” This frontline approach to ease students into the college environment started with only seven assistants in 2009. But the program has over the last four years grown and now includes 31 peer assistants and peer mentors. The current coordinator, Mat Genuser, works alongside an advisory steering committee to guide the program and make it a helpful organization on campus. Peer assistants have helped facil itate college events like the New Student Experience, job fairs and campus tours for high school 4 - S /iL __________ ________ ■: SB ■ — ji « S»S Cougar call center representative Garnetta Crabtree, a CCC student, fields calls from peers. The call center answers many incoming calls for Clackamas at 503-^94-6100. students from around the district. Many four-year schools have been doing peer assistant pro grams for years. Portland State University, in addition to having a robust peer program, houses the Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research. The center “exists to advance the field of mentoring, nationally and inter nationally, through innovative and rigorous research, educa tion and knowledge sharing, and partnerships with organizations providing services,” according to PSU’s website. Melissa Pirie, CCC’s director o f student and academ ic su p port, helped expand the PSU peer-mentor program and has big plans for the fixture of CCC’s program. Pirie, along with other fac ulty members, conducts train ing classes for prospective peer assistant/peer mentor applicants. Classes are centered on handling the myriad concerns that can arise from having a diverse pop ulation of students like CCC’s, which includes high school stu dents, displaced workers, baby boomers, millennials, students learning English as a second lan guage and veterans. While there is no designated budget for the program, sever al areas pitch in as needed for things like trainings and sup plies, according to Tara Sprehe, one of the program’s creators. And there are perks for students, she added. “Tuition waivers are offered to the students in return for their service as a peer assistant,” Sprehe stated via email. But how does one get involved in this support pro gram? Qualified students should A ■ mi 1 apply. Spots open up once a year, and as needed. (See box below for more details.) The application deadline for the 2014-15 school year is the end o f February. I Applying to be a peer mentor To qualify, you must: . •Have completed 12 credits at CCC, or have completed 12 credits bj the end «1 the current term. ; •Have a minimum 255 cumulative GPA - b - k x •B e in good academic standing , •Enrolled in at least 12 credits each term you serve as a mentor •Have familiarity navigating CCC and related websites, prq- cesses,etc. •Applicants interested in serving as a peer mentor must have received an “Â’' in WR 121 Preference m il be shown to stu dents receiving an “ A” or “B” in either WR 122 or WR 227. •To receive a full-time tuition waiver (12 credits), you must complete 12 scheduled hours of service which includes one weekly meeting of one hour. Three additional hours of service (per week) must be completed at > mu discretion lor a total of 33 hours m a term ■ Hours ~ How to Meet Hours Scheduled hours Weekly meeting Campus/community service T ~ T ~ Total hours per term ___________ - -■■■ ■ ■ . ■ I Clackamas CC Oregon City Campus hours (main store) December 9 -1 3 , 2013 Mon,- Wed.» 7:45 am - 5:00 pm Thurs., 7:45 am * 5:30 pm - FrL, 8:30 am - I ’M pm C o m m u n ity C e n te r h o u rs Mon. - Wed., 9:00 am 1 3:00 pm H a rm o n y C am p us h o u rs lio n . - Wed., 9;30 am - 1:30 pm, 2:30 pfft 5:30 pm Thure. & Frl., 10:00 am - 3:00 pm CCC IO R e q u ire d ! H
