Do you want to make a difference on campus? Are you looking to expand your leadership skills? Do you want to graduate with more on your resume then just a college degree? Health Initiatives (HI) has an incredible new opportunity to help you do all this and more. Healthy Jacket Peer Education is a new program launching this spring and HI is actively seeking candidates to serve in its first class of peer educators. Peer health educators influence and encourage fellow students to create and maintain healthy lifestyle choices. They play an essential role in impacting student health and well-being on campus.

“Peer health educators are the next step in making students and the Georgia Tech campus healthier,” shared Health Educator Sarah Morales, one of the program advisors. “However, students can get so much more out of participating in this program as a peer educator. They will gain transferable skills that they can use in their future career, no matter what it is.” The National Peer Educator Study found that students who serve as peer educators develop:

• Strong sense of purpose
• Career direction and long-term goals
• Skills in effective listening, time management, and public speaking
• Deeper knowledge of health and well-being topics and campus resources

Additionally, peer educators reported growth in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, and theory application.

Health Educator JaPeera Edmonds, one of the program advisors, shared that she is “looking for dedicated and passionate students who want to make an impact on campus and want to leave Georgia Tech a better place than when they started.” She continued, “we are very excited about this group and want to focus on creating the next in peer education right here at Georgia Tech.” Peer educators selected to serve in this program will receive mentorship and training from health professionals on program planning, evaluation, public speaking, and much more. Peer educators will host outreach events, such as tabling wellness events and other campus-wide programs, and lead programs they create for students in residence halls, classrooms, and beyond. Our peer educators will also be trained to conduct bystander intervention training for different campus partners.

Applications to become a peer health educator open now through Friday, October 5th. Want to find out more before you apply? HI is hosting two information sessions:

September 13th - Student Center 343, 4 - 5pm

September 25th - Student Center 319, 11am - 12pm

More information about the responsibilities, requirements, and benefits, as well as the application, can be found online at http://healthinitiatives.gatech.edu/healthyjacket.