We also asked PAAs to reveal some of the outcomes they had seen since participating as a Peer Academic Advisor. We will be consolidating this information to include in the second round of consideration for the NACADA Monograph for Exemplary Practices in Peer Advising.
We’re excited to hear so many positive experiences coming from our PAAs. Thanks for all of your hard work in making this such a great organization!
“Being a PAA, and specifically a Head PAA, has allowed me to gain leadership experience in planning and organizing events for my peers. It is extremely rewarding to have so many people attend an event that we organized, and even further gratifying to see how many people walk out after an academic planning session much more comfortable and confident with their academic plans. As a PAA, I’ve learned not only patience with working with others, but how to assist someone even if I do not know exactly the right answer. In fact, from PAA training, we’ve learned that there is never a right answer you can tell someone; your goal as an advisor is to present the advisee with the information and resources and help guide the advisee to creating his/her own final decision. I think the success of Rice’s PAA program is validated through the fact that many, if not all, of Rice students that I know feel much more comfortable going to a PAA than going to even major department advisors.”- Sachin Allahabadi, Sid Rich
“As a PAA, I really enjoy engaging new and returning students with their academic needs. I’ve found that it’s quite rewarding to offer insight concerning classes, professors, and post-grad prep to my peers, especially when you’ve gone through the process yourself. As one of the Head PAAs, I’ve also seen how the PAA team is so involved and willing to go the extra mile with study breaks and other measures in order to provide clear information to the students for whatever they need. It’s really great to see students pitch ideas for academic events that they want to see happen to benefit everyone else. We all have a lot of fun planning academic help sessions and alerting our peers to all things academic, and I think that’s one of the most important things about the PAA program: the fact that our peers value the information we provide because we’re so passionate about the opportunity to do so”.- Layo Obamehinti, Brown
“Through the PAA program, Rice as a whole has developed into an institution where choosing courses is now more organized, manageable, and even exciting. Students, when they come to Rice, are immediately introduced to their PAAs and through this initial and early introduction, we are able to establish ourselves as resources and friends that the students can go to anytime. We meet with each student individually and as groups so students get as much schedule attention and assistance they need. By having a fair number of PAAs, we are able to accomplish this feat by holding office hours throughout the week and allow students to walk in with any questions they may have about course planning and general academic information. All of this is accomplished with the undergraduates who not only have first hand experiences with the classes themselves, but as undergraduate PAAs, they also understand the mindset students can go through during their first year which further enhances the advising experience.”- Michael Lam, Sid Rich
