Week 4: February 10

Wow, I'm already in my fourth week as a Hixson Peer Mentor! This semester really feels like it's flying by, which is fine by me because I'm very excited to welcome in the new freshman class of Hixson Scholars!

This week in University Studies 311A, we witnessed the first student-taught lesson of the semester, this one being presented by the very capable Easten Lovelace. He did very well (which actually makes me even more nervous for when I give my lesson!), and included a lot of interactive activities that engaged the audience very effectively. His lesson, as well as chapter three in "Students Helping Students," is about cultural and differences among people, including religion, food, music, ethnicity, and art. This was a very interesting topic for me; if there's one major flaw in my being a peer mentor, it is that I'm very dead-set in my beliefs and my values (which can lead to difficulties in practicing tolerance!). I hope that I can open my eyes a little and be a little more tolerant of everyone around me, even if they don't always agree with my background and my personality.

I also thought the introductory game was a great way to kind of see some of the other peer mentors' backgrounds. It'll be great to get to know all of them a little more as the semester continues on! I also think I've got the most of the peer mentors' names down - still working on it!

This Sunday is our February retreat, and it should be a fun time. I'm definitely looking forward to it, although I'm hoping I'm not absolutely exhausted from my club officer retreat in Kansas City on Friday and Saturday! We'll see, I guess. Here's to another great week at Iowa State!