The Peer Mentor: Daily Champions of Campus Inclusion
Peer mentors support students with intellectual disabilities inside and outside the classroom. They're on campus, promoting inclusion, connecting students with disabilities to all different academic and social circles. They know what it's like to be a college student; they are someone you can confide in. Basically, they're pretty cool college students.
Hannah (first photo), from Castle Rock, Colorado, is a peer mentor with the
Office of Inclusive Services at UCCS. She studies Inclusive Elementary Education, with a minor in business. Her time as a peer mentor has impacted her own experience as a college student. As Hannah puts it, "Now working with individuals with disabilities is one of my passions, not just what I love. I want the upcoming world to look at students with intellectual disabilities and see the difference they can make."
Abbey (second photo), from Portland, Oregon, is a peer mentor with
UNC GOAL. She will graduate in May with a degree in Criminal Justice. She loves watching students grow in their independence, whether that's becoming more comfortable going to lunch by themselves, knowing how to get to class, and/or making their own friends. Over the past two and a half years as a peer mentor, Abbey has seen many students learn to "navigate themselves as their own person and find who they want to be".
