Honors Peer Mentors & Leaders, offered as an instructional course (HON 300) only in the fall semester, is one of the Honors College’s many experiential learning opportunities. Honors Peer Mentors & Leaders provides peer advisor and leadership training to prepare honors students to work with college staff and others, on and off campus, to provide various student support services, including advising and community building events such as field trips and other co–curricular learning opportunities. Generally, we expect students to take this course following HON 200, but this is not a pre–requisite. This course can be repeated for credit.
All students completing the course will undergo Certified Peer Educator (CPE) Training through the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), a diverse international organization with over 15,000 members in all 50 states, 25 countries, and in 8 U.S. territories. CPE training is an effective strategy for building a well-educated and sustainable peer education group. CPE Training helps peer educators develop leadership skills to be able to successfully create and implement campus programs. The training includes eight modules, covering the role of peer education, helping peers make a behavior change, listening skills, response and referral skills, how to take action and intervene, recognizing the role of diversity and inclusivity, programming and presentation skills, self-care, and group dynamics.
What Does CPE Training Include?
CPE is a comprehensive, 12-hour foundation training suitable for any collegiate peer education group. This training is broken up into 8 distinct modules. The course can be taught during a training over a long weekend, or throughout a semester as part of a course. The modules and skillsets that your students will develop include:
- Understanding the Power, Roles, and Characteristics of Peer Educators
- Understanding Change as a Peer Educator
- Being an Effective Listener as a Peer Educator
- A Peer Educator’s Role as a Responder
- Bystander Intervention as a Peer Education Technique
- Intrapersonal Applications of Identity as a Peer Educator
- Programming Strategies for Peer Educators
- Group Development and Moving Forward
Students who are certified receive CPE Certification stating that they have indeed been trained in the core skills that will make them a better leader, role model, activist, and team member. After completing the training, students receive a certificate, membership card, and resume attachment by completing the online test.
Hear from Honors Student Mentors & Leaders
Ava Taylor describes her experience in two sections of HON 300 (both the instructional and independent study sections) over the 2023-2024. Ava helped to create the Honors Ambassadors program with the college’s Director of Student Engagement and Community Outreach in the Spring 2024 section of HON 300.
Riley Nelson, a Spring 2024 Marshall University Honors College graduate, speaks to her experience as a Certified Peer Educator mentoring honors students in Professor Michele Biggs’ HON 200 Second Year Seminar in leadership, ethics, and civic engagement. Nelson, along with all students in the experiential learning course known as HON 300 Honors Mentors and Leaders become Certified Peer Educators and have the option to earn honors credits toward completion of their requirements in the college as mentors once they have completed their training in HON 300.
