Awards Ceremony Recognizes Work of Peer Mentors

BY MERNA EL-HENNAWAY

The Office of Student Support (OSS) held a Celebration and Award Ceremony last week to honor students who have mentored and counseled their peers at AUC.

Associate Dean of Students and OSS Director Aly Mokhtar told The Caravan that this year the Office want to highlight the efforts of “outstanding mentors in a more formal way”, particularly since the peer mentor program has become more recognized among the AUC community.

Peer mentoring is a work-study program which enlists students to provide services of counseling and mentoring to their peers as well as to promote student conduct to help them “learn and abide by AUC community ethics and values”.

The program also serves students with physical and learning disabilities in order to promote an accessible and hospitable learning environment.

“It was very nice to be recognized although it has been a year since I graduated,” said alumnus Karim Radwan, a former peer mentor.

“I thought that the OSS completely forgot about the graduates, but it felt so nice receiving an email inviting me to attend a celebration of our work, and actually get a certificate,” he added.

Dean of Students Jennifer Skaggs gave a very motivational speech at the beginning of the ceremony honoring and thanking student mentors, faculty members, and staff for their input in the OSS, and for the huge support given to mentees.

“Core curricular, civic engagement, and community-based learning are words that we hear a lot around AUC. No matter which position you have in the counseling center, you are practicing all three of those things. That allows you to thrive not only academically, but also inter-personally by helping others,” Skaggs said.

English language teacher Nada Kassas was the only faculty member awarded in the ceremony for her volunteer work assisting the committee which works with students with disabilities.

“I was very happy to receive an unexpected certificate. I have been working at AUC for 23 years, and only joined [OSS] this year as a member of the students with disabilities committee. This office is very important to me, and I would do anything just to help them,” Kassas said.