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April 18, 2006

Good Advice

Peer counselor helps freshmen acclimate and succeed

Story by: Patrick Harmon

The Shorthorn staff

The Shorthorn: Megumi Rooze

Psychology junior Alisha Tysor is a Leadership Commonwealth peer counselor for Kalpana Chawla Hall. She helps students adjust to college life by teaching them study skills, money management and how to become more involved on campus.

Teaching study skills and personal management skills to help freshmen grow into campus leaders might sound like a job for faculty. Alisha Tysor doesn’t think so.

The psychology junior has been Kalpana Chawla Hall’s peer counselor for the Leadership Commonwealth for two years. The commonwealth is part of the university’s Freshman Interest Groups program in which freshmen live and learn together their first year.

Tysor said that she lives with the students and that her job is similar to a resident assistant’s.

“Basically, I serve as a mentor,” she said. “I put on programs for them. I also facilitate study groups each week.”

Students in the program take three classes together in the fall and spring, Tysor said. The classes are basic courses, including math, history and science, and a college adjustment class that Tysor teaches.

In this course, she teaches the students things she thinks they need to know to make it as students and leaders.

The goal of the program is to get the students involved on campus to form a support group as they enter college and to help them succeed academically, Tysor said.

“I feel I open doors for them to a lot of organizations on campus,” she said. “Getting involved on campus is paramount to the college experience. It’s a great way to make friends.”

She said she wanted to become a peer counselor after one of her advisers told her about it.

“I actually want to be a counselor, and I thought this would be a good stepping stone to gain experience in that field,” she said.

Peer counselor May Zhou said Tysor is an energetic and optimistic role model for her students.

“The first time you meet her, it seems like you already know her,” the nursing sophomore said. “It’s easy to get to know her. She just makes you really comfortable.”

Tysor said she was not always so outgoing. The program made her come out of her shell, she said.

She is also involved in the UTA Hosts mentoring program, is a Freshman Leaders on Campus adviser and has been promoted to lead peer counselor next year for the Leadership Academy. In that position, she will advise and guide the other peer counselors.

Tysor said she hopes her students grow from the program into campus leaders.

“More than half the students have gone on to other positions,” she said. “I think it’s successful in getting them involved.”

CORRECTION

The article should have stated that Alisha Tysor is a member of the Leadership Academy and has been promoted to the Freshman Interests Groups lead peer counselor