Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! All week long, we’re showing love to our amazing PeerForward advisors.
Today we are spotlighting Irene Leger, our PeerForward advisor at Kahuka High and Intermediate School. It is thanks to Advisors like her selflessly taking time out of their summer to accompany them that our Peer Leaders are able to attend their Summer Workshops. Not only do advisors accompany students during their Workshops, but they guide them on their leadership journey throughout the school year as well! We caught up with Irene to gain her insight into the PeerForward program and the benefits she has witnessed it have on her students and their larger community:
As an advisor, what changes do you see in your students following their time at their PeerForward Workshop?
This is our second year as a PeerForward school, meaning it is my second opportunity to observe the differences in a new set of students. When they arrive, they’re students who are usually more reserved. They rarely talk to others, so it’s been cool to see them come out of their shell. I notice them start to show their personalities and their real abilities when they’re amongst strangers and put into situations that they’ve never experienced before. I’ve seen them grow so much. Personally, as Peer Leaders, I’ve seen them take on roles that I’ve never seen them take on in the classroom. It’s been great to see their growth.
Can you talk more about the roles they take on? How does their presence as Peer Leaders impact your school’s community?
Our Peer Leaders from last year were able to lead assemblies and introduce the program to their classmates. They led campaigns on campus. They were able to help their peers apply for FAFSA and take them through that process; a process that adults usually help these students with. It was cool to see our PeerForward team step into that role. They also helped their peers apply for scholarships, helped keep them informed of scholarships, and assisted them with college applications. They made the college application process fun. This year, our numbers within our school increased in every way from number of scholarships applied to, to the money that they were awarded. The amount of students who applied for FAFSA also increased. Earlier, I was looking at the data from our scoreboard, and it was just so cool to see the growth that our school has made overall.
That really is the impact of our Peer Leaders. Them reaching out to their own friends and then their friends reaching out to their friends creates a positive chain reaction. I think the seniors knowing that they had people that they knew that they could go to for help empowered them.
Can you talk more about Hawaii? How do you think PeerForward benefits not only your school, but the larger community on the island as well?
At our school, about 30% of students go to college or some type of postsecondary program. With PeerForward, the amount of students who apply to just college itself, a two year or four year, increased to 70%, which was crazy for us to see from that normal standard 30%. Our numbers are a little smaller at our school because many of our students serve church missions right after graduation. After their missions, they then go on to pursue postsecondary education. Regardless, it’s been nice to see our PeerForward Leaders encourage them to just go through that process of applying for scholarships and go to school while they’re waiting for mission calls or while they’re preparing for their church missions.
The culture in Hawaii is a lot of times to take a gap year or to work with family or to do other things besides school. I mean, there’s a lot of resources in Hawaii where students can do things with their own families, but it’s been exciting to see the increase in college enrollment as well.
Was there a specific moment for you where recognized the work your Peer Leaders were doing, and the PeerForward model in general, were going to work for your school?
I think it became clear when they were planning every single campaign. I noticed that they kind of made each campaign their own, tailoring it to fit their peers’ needs and interests. When it came to our FAFSA Friday campaigns, they were very particular about the types of foods that they had available at lunchtime. They were very aware of the types of food their classmates would like to see at ourFAFSA cafe. When we did scholarships, they knew a lot of the types of organizations that their friends were in. Because of that, when we spotlighted certain scholarships, it was based upon their knowledge of their own friends and the types of organizations that they were already with. Whether it be athletics, outside clubs, or church groups, they covered everything. I think it was just super cool to see them so excited to carry out each campaign knowing that they were going to be able to reach at least one person. They had someone in mind for each particular campaign.
Seeing the changes present within your Peer Leaders and your school, would you recommend PeerForward to other communities?
I would recommend PeerForward to every school. It was so beneficial to us. As a new college career counselor, I was looking to see what we could do to increase our postsecondary education enrollment rates, FAFSA completion rates, and increase our student populations’ scholarship award amounts. PeerForward helped push every single goal that we had in our school. What made it even better is that our students were the ones leading it. Peer Leaders have the opportunity to learn organizational skills and how to run successful campaigns. Those are both things that union members learn as adults. I think it’s so cool that, as high school students, they’ve been able to learn all these skills and have been given access to helpful tools at such a young age.
PeerForward has taught so much. At our summer Workshop, our students learn so many valuable tools, and it’s just cool to see them take all those tools and carry it out through the year and see their growth in leadership, organization, just everything as a whole. To me, PeerForward can only make a school better. It can make students better, and I recommend it to everyone. I do.
