The 2014-15 academic year brings changes to the Gustavus Peer Assistant (PA) program. The PAs are a group of students that promote healthy and productive lifestyles for the Gustavus community.
Senior Kelli Remboldt, a second year PA shared some of the changes that the school year brings to the PAs.
“The PAs just went through a few changes last year including a new director, Megan Krause. A big part of the changes is having one director instead of three advisors. We also have 5 returning PAs and 9 new PAs, which is a lot more than normal,” Remboldt said.
Remboldt explained how this year’s expansion of the Peer Assistant Program will encompass more aspects of student health.
“Basically, it’s a revamp of the whole program, the main thing that we are trying to focus on is what students need at this point in time. In particular, we are looking at student surveys and working on the highest stressors, which were anxiety, sleep, and depression. The PAs used to be focused on chemical and sexual health and now we are adding more of a focus on well being,” Remboldt said.
Senior Eric Pothen, a third year PA cited the changes in the PA mission statement as reflective of the new goals.
“The PAs also changed their mission statement slightly. It now is: The Peer Assistants aim to promote healthy, balanced lifestyles that create a campus environment in which you (the students) feel empowered to make choices that contribute to your personal and community wellbeing.
“We believe this mission statement reflects us more as a group and places emphasis on empowering the student to make their own choices, not us telling them what to do,” Pothen said.
Senior Matt Wagle, a first year PA explained some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of this year’s PA training program.
“[The former program] has been more focused on drug and alcohol education on campus, but having gone through PA training, I know that there is a more balanced focus towards wellbeing as a student at Gustavus. It’s really a whole embodiment of being a healthy campus and a healthy community,” Wagle said.
Wagle also attributed some of the year’s success to the group’s new leadership.
“Our new director, Megan Kraus has been working very diligently on planning and structuring a foundation for the Peer Assistant program. We focused on setting goals for the values that the PA program wants to embody and what the PA program on campus is going to mean. She has been very good about facilitating the process,” Wagle said.
Pothen also addressed the over-involvement issue that is familiar to many Gusties.
“We’re helping students realize that determining what to say yes to and what to say no to are equally important. This idea of commitment is an important topic to us. Some people would be well served to become more committed to extracurriculars, like, going deeper into a role, while others would be well served to realize that more is not better. Again, both forms of commitment are really important,” Pothen said.
There will also be a continuing effort to highlight the positive choices that are being made on the Gustavus campus.
“We want to show just how great the health behaviors of our peers are. There’s this odd perception that students are a lot unhealthier than they really are. For example, 4 in 5 Gusties choose not to smoke, 7 in 10 Gusties have never smoked marijuana. We want to celebrate and encourage our peers to continue to make great choices that support their overall wellbeing,” Pothen said.
The Peer Assistants are a great resource that can’t be found on many other college campuses.
“Peer Assistants are unique to Gustavus’ campus because we are peers helping peers. Research has shown that peers are more likely to listen to their own peers and will be more effective than listening to an authoritative figure. We cover a wide variety of issues and have been chosen to present at a national Peer Health Education Conference, BACCHUS, multiple times within the past couple of years. We are a nationally recognized Peer Health Education group and we take great pride in that,” Pothen said.
Wagle encourages all students to take advantage of this newly refocused and refreshed campus resource. “There is almost always a person in the PA office during the day and they can always come and hang out and visit us there, and after that they can always set up a one on one anywhere where a student feels comfortable talking to us,” Wagle said.
Students wishing to meet individually with a PA can also find a link on the Peer Assistants page of the Gustavus website to schedule appointments or to view the range of programs offered.
The PAs are knowledgeable in a wide variety of topics and are working to expand their role on campus to focus on the following areas:
a. Alcohol and Other Drugs
b. Stress and Mental Health
c. Faith and Spirituality
d. Sex and Relationships
e. Identity and Friendships
f. Safe and Healthy Environment
g. Sleep and Time Management
h. Other topics: nutrition and exercise; planning and study skills
–McKayla Murphy