I hate asking for help.
I, like many Northwestern students, have always prided myself on my independence, for better or worse. I taught myself how to ride a bike, sans training wheels, and refused Band-Aids for the numerous cuts or scrapes incurred from my less-than-coordinated riding. I survived without any help and thus, my adolescent mantra was born.
When I began as a freshman at Northwestern in September 2012, I expected things to be much the same. But, of course, they weren’t. Almost immediately I was overwhelmed with the breadth of opportunities available, the rigorous coursework, and, most overwhelmingly, how accomplished my fellow students seemed to be. And, because I hated asking for help, I felt alone through all of it, even though help is something I could have desperately used. There was nobody I felt comfortable enough with to burden with my problems, so I kept on plugging along day after day, hiding my anxiety with the smile I memorized how to manufacture.
As February rolled around and I had worn in my Northwestern training wheels, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to apply to be a Peer Adviser. I knew it would be a time commitment, but if I could be the hand to reach out to students who had had a rough time transitioning much like I did, then the entire experience would be worth it.
My first year as a Peer Adviser was charmed to say the least; I had the opportunity to usher in eight new theatre students to Northwestern, meet inspiring Northwestern students from the incredible Wildcat Welcome community, and feel more connected to the university than I could have ever imagined. You can read about my first year here in a blogpost I wrote soon after WW ’13, where I gush about the people, community, and experiences that made my first year so wonderful. It was so good, in fact, that I questioned whether or not I wanted to reapply; what if my second year paled in comparison?
Could a second year ever come close?
This somewhat illogical reasoning is something I hear often from past Peer Advisers, but the reason I decided to reapply is what sets PAs apart from the rest of the university and is something we often talk about in the New Student and Family Programs office–that Peer Advisers are all united under a desire to help others. I couldn’t guarantee my second time around would be the blissful experience it had been the first time, but I could be sure that by being a Peer Adviser again I could make a difference in the first year of at least one new student and that alone compelled me to apply once more.
Of course, my second year as a Peer Adviser absolutely did measure up to my first year; in spring training, returners are encouraged to share their past experiences with new Peer Advisers, allowing the new PAs to learn from both my mistakes and triumphs. In training, I met an entirely new set of NU students than I had met my first year around, while also maintaining the close relationships I had established one year prior. And from the first year to the second I had become an impeccably better Peer Adviser, having had more life experience to color my mentorship and more focus on my students than myself.
By the end of Wildcat Welcome, I was tired beyond belief, but also so proud of both my PA group–nine new students I genuinely cannot imagine Northwestern without–as well as the remarkable Peer Adviser community I stood in. Applying to the Wildcat Welcome Board of Directors is something I had thought about since I had first been chosen to be a Peer Adviser; the Board is instrumental in creating the spirit that I had so appreciated in my two years as a Peer Adviser. That pursuit felt like the ultimate way to give back to a community that had given me so much and an incredible opportunity to become even more connected to Northwestern as a whole; it’s easy as a junior to reach a point of staleness, but Wildcat Welcome with all its energy, positivity, and laughter has continually revitalized my appreciation and adoration for this university every year.
Applying to be a Peer Adviser has come to be a defining decision for me and is something I truly can’t imagine my Northwestern experience without. I encourage anyone who has even briefly thought of applying to attend a Call-Out and submit an application. Thanks to my time as a Peer Adviser, I am no longer afraid to ask for help; in fact, I asked for help with writing this very post. Because, to me, asking for help no longer means giving up–it means connecting, caring, and maturing. I am no longer the little girl on her bike alone; now, I ride proudly with help from others to balance.
Click here to Apply to be a 2015 Peer Adviser (PA) or Family Ambassador (FA) by February 2, 2015.