Honors peer mentor wears many hats
An appealing aspect of on-campus housing is the chance for students to live in themed dorms — housing tailored to students who share certain interests or goals. Theme housing often includes additional activities for residents that cater to these special interests. Each unit of theme housing is run by a dedicated student who organizes programs for his or her residents and acts as a positive role model.
Katherine Levitt, a junior majoring in art education, serves as the peer mentor for the honors department housing — theme housing located in the Living Learning Community. She is responsible for 28 residents, all of which are involved in the honors program.
“My primary job is to just be there for my residents,” Levitt said. “I am a role model, adviser, advocate and resource, as well as a connection to the Honors Department.”
Levitt’s responsibilities go beyond that of an ordinary peer mentor or resident assistant, she said. She lives with the students she mentors and is responsible for maintaining a healthy and safe living environment, while organizing programs for her students based on the guiding principles of the on-campus housing program. These principles include academics support, personal growth, healthy lifestyles and social responsibility.
“They sound kind of boring when I list them off,” Levitt said. “But it means that I have a lot of flexibility when I plan programs.”
Levitt said her favorite activities in the past have included a game of capture the flag that spanned across campus, a service project in which the residents played video games for 24 hours to help Primary Children’s Hospital, and Leadership Nights, at which honors house residents eat dinner and network with distinguished faculty members.
She also organized a Thanksgiving program in which residents could anonymously give thanks for their peers by writing who, what and why they were thankful for on a bulletin board in the hallway.
Levitt said her job can be difficult at times, and she often has difficulty managing her busy life.
“It can be hard to balance my time with residents with the paperwork my job requires, as well as with my coursework,” she said. “And the social life that gets squeezed can be a tough thing to handle.”
Levitt’s schedule includes weekly staff meetings that require her to wake up at 5:30 a.m. Even on days without staff meetings, she is up early and spends her days in art classes on campus, she said. At night, she is often busy with programs for her residents or staying involved in resident life.
“I spend a lot of evenings at area government meetings or at National Residence Hall Honorary meetings or at an honors house program,” she said. When she is not involved in resident life, she said she still tries to spend evenings with her residents to get to know them better.
Ultimately, Levitt said it is her residents who make the job worth it. She said they make up an enthusiastic group who are receptive to her activities and love being involved in the honors program.
“Their good attitudes make everything we do fun,” she said. “I love being able to help them do anything they set their minds to, whether they need information from me or encouragement or advice on mediation. My favorite thing about the job is knowing I have a helpful impact.”
Levitt said outside of planned programs, she loves spending time with her residents, eating at the Marketplace.
“I love that we have family style meals together,” she said. “We’ll end up with two or three of those large round tables pushed together and stuffed full of people. It’s great, and it helps my community stay bonded despite everyone’s busy schedules.”
Levitt said she’s grateful for the preparation being a peer mentor gives for her future goals.
“I have learned a lot about putting on events, mentoring, encouraging, listening, advising and working as a team to bring something together,” she said. “Since I’m planning to be a teacher, these are things I am going to be doing for the rest of my life.”
– m.van911@aggiemail.usu.edu