How might you advocate to an academic administrator that a peer leadership
program was beneficial?
Dear academic
advisor,
In my humble opinion, I believe we
should have more peer leadership programs at the university. There are many
benefits to not only student but also the university itself. But don’t just
take my word for it; there is also plenty of research that supports this claim.
Shook & Keup (2012) discuss the
importance of peer leadership programs to college students. One of the most
crucial things to a college student is a sense of community. The more friends
students have on campus, the more connected they feel to it. Having social
connections is also important to academics. Student can also benefit from their
community by using their friends as a resource. Student leaders can be great referral
agents (Sharkin,
Plageman, & Mangold, 2003). Students are comfortable with turning to other students for help because
they can usually find someone who has face the same kind of emotional,
academic, or relational problem before.
Peer leadership programs can also
help students develop leadership skills such as oral communication, team work,
critical thinking, etc. (Shook & Keup, 2012). Cress, Astin, Zimmerman-Oster, &
Burkhardt, (2001)
studied the effects of peer leadership on personal and educational development.
They found that students who participated in leadership trainings and programs
showed a greater sense of civic responsibility, multicultural awareness, a
better understanding of leadership theories, and other leadership skills.
Finally, peer leadership programs
can help benefit the university. Shook & Keup (2012) talk about how student
leaders can be a great source of information to the university about how
students perceive institutional programs. In addition, student leaders can help
decrease the budget in instances where a student can do a job instead of a paid
employee. Student leaders can also communicate faster with their peers about
things going on at the university (Russel
& Skinkle, 1990). They will usually also demonstrate more involvement
at the university and will be more likely to participate in institutional
activities after the program.
In conclusion, I want to ask you to
consider adding more peer leadership programs. I believe they would greatly
benefit the students and the school. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
References:
Cress, C. M., Astin, H. S., Zimmerman-Oster,
K., & Burkhardt, J. C. (2001). Developmental outcomes of college students'
involvement in leadership activities. Journal Of College Student
Development, 42(1), 15-27.
Russel, J. H., & Skinkle, R. R. (1990).
Evaluation of peer-adviser effectiveness. Journal Of College Student
Development, 31(5), 388-394
Sharkin, B. S., Plageman, P. M., & Mangold,
S. L. (2003). College Student Response to Peers in Distress: An Exploratory
Study. Journal Of College Student Development, 44(5), 691-698.
doi:10.1353/csd.2003.0059
Shook, J. L. and Keup, J. R. (2012), The benefits of peer leader programs:
An overview from the literature. New Directions for Higher Education, 2012: 5–16.
doi: 10.1002/he.20002
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