The Center for Service and Learning recently introduced a peer mentoring program that connects students to meaningful volunteer opportunities. The new program helps students grow into community contributors—one of IUPUI's four Profiles of Learning for Undergraduate Success—with the guidance of an experienced mentor.
The center works to find volunteer opportunities for students and faculty, creating campuswide days of service, and connecting them to service learning resources. IUPUI is one of the nation’s most engaged campuses, and the Center for Service and Learning hopes to further this engagement through the new peer mentoring initiative.
Lorrie Brown, director of student and staff engagement for the Center for Service and Learning, started the program this semester to aid students and student organizations in their search for service opportunities.
“Sometimes there’s a barrier with volunteering, because you have to go into the community,” Brown said. “You have to make a connection with a community partner, and that can be intimidating sometimes. Our goal is to have our peer consultants create relationships with community partners and have some insider knowledge they can share with students to make them successful.”