My Favorite Honors 100 Section Ever

Reflections on Being an Honors Peer Educator

Autumn 2022

Anaëlle Enders

12.8.22

Our last day of class

How were your initial ideas about leadership changed throughout this course? How did they stay the same or be reinforced?

Being the one in the teacher role was a truly eye-opening experience. Through this time I got to see my students regularly and develop relationships with them. In some ways, it was easier than I expected. I had the privilege of reading about their goals and stories through their reflections. The students all were so unique and inspiring. Even though I wanted to do everything perfectly, I learned that I needed to have grace for myself in this role, giving me even more empathy for other teachers and leaders in my life.

One thing that turned out to be a lot easier than I expected was connecting with the students. I was afraid that they would ignore me or hate me or not see me as human. However, my perceptions changed a lot after meeting the class. Many of them went out of their way to make a personal connection with me, having a conversation or sharing about their day. I think the fact that I am only a year above them in college helped make it easier to relate with them. In addition to that, they were all just a very friendly group. We were only ten people altogether. Looking back, I wish I would've put them in more discussion groups and partner pairs. They were such great conversationalists, I was always impressed by how they connected with each other. In the future, I would probably organize a few minutes for people to talk to their neighbors in each section.

In future leadership roles, what kind of leader do you want to be perceived as and how would you hope to demonstrate that?

I hope to be the kind of leader that people can look to as someone stable and trustworthy, someone people can relate to and not feel intimidated by. To do this I would aim to check in with the people I’m around in normal conversations so that we can get to know each other outside the context of leadership duties in order to build relationships and show them that I really care.

What did you learn from your PE check-in, the H397 course, and your personal self-reflections in Autumn?

This role as a Peer Educator was the perfect baby step into the world of education without it feeling too overwhelming. Taking the preparation course in the spring to create our lesson plans and get training helped me prepare extensively for actually leading a classroom. I loved how close we grew together as a peer educating group. They are some of my closest friends in the UW Honors community.

Sometimes I found it difficult to be focused or ‘put together’ when leading the class. I got nervous before each section meeting but started to learn how to manage my emotions with different practices. One of the habits I picked up to ground myself before teaching a class was reminding myself of a truth with each stair step up to my classroom. With each stair step I repeated to myself things like “I am enough”, “My mistakes do not define me”, “Each student’s life is valuable and unique”, “Everybody has their own story, I’m just one person in that story”, “I am empowered to love even when I feel weak”. When I took time to remember these truths, I actually was able to worry less about myself and focus more on pouring into my students. I realized there’s a lot more to leadership involving connecting with students and understanding their lives. Building trust with students is equally as important as giving them information. If there is trust and a communal atmosphere, they will be more likely to ask questions. This firsthand experience reinforced the idea for me that ‘you can’t pour out of an empty cup’.

My schedule this Autumn was a little more complicated than usual because of having to have overlapping classes once and a while between my Peer Educator seminar and my Arabic class. I had to split time evenly between the classes and make sure I was on top of my work. I wish I would’ve been able to attend all the Peer Educator seminars. It’s such a fun class and a great group of people. But I still received a ton of support which helped me navigate this tricky schedule from Nadra and Claire (when Claire was still working here!). I was lucky that I found out about this schedule overlap during the summer. Being able to figure this situation out shows me how important it is to communicate early and often.

What are some goals you would hope to achieve if you were to do other student leadership positions in the future?

One of my goals would be to find where I can be most effective and in a role that is a good fit for my strengths and tendencies. If I were to work in other student leadership positions in the future, I would like to see how I would do with smaller groups, or even in one-on-one care. In addition, I would like to improve my soft skills in communication and time organization for lesson plans or events.