Southern Illinois University Carbondale
EN-1: Student Educators Program

Saluki Certified Peer Educators are students dedicated to providing wellness and health education programming to Southern Illinois University’s campus. This NASPA certified program uses a peer-to-peer approach to help educate their fellow students on health behaviors to reduce risk and promote positive outcomes. Saluki Peer Educators assist in implementing health education programs regarding wellness topics such as bystander intervention, stress management, sleep hygiene, time management, and other topics pertaining to college health. This peer-education program targets all demographics of student on-campus.

Students interested in becoming a Saluki C.P.E. must first complete a detailed online application of their knowledge, previous experiences, and applicable skills related to peer education. Once received, the student will meet with the program supervisor, Julie Robertson-Brooks, to discuss the student’s areas of interest and expectations for the program. If selected, the student will attend mandatory trainings and meetings in preparation of educating students as a Saluki C.P.E.

Training for the Saluki C.P.E program is provided by an established Certified Peer Education training through NASPA. The training utilizes a pre/post-test to assess the trainings success. This 12-hour training includes 8 modules highlighting students’ understanding of roles and responsibilities as a peer educator, developing effective communication and effective listening, bystander intervention, intrapersonal applications of identity, programming strategies, and group development. Upon completion of the training, the student will take a final exam and receive a certificate, as well as a letter of recommendation from NASPA.

Student Health Services provided financial support to the Saluki Certified Peer Educator Program. Student. Student Health Services purchased 10 training manuals at the cost of $28 each for a total of $280.00. They provided two Wellness Coordinators (one at .5fte and one at .25fte) to complete NASPA’s certified peer education train the trainer program, and to develop the program. SHS purchased promotional items to advertise workshops facilitated by the program in the amount of approximately $500.00.

The Leadership Development Program (LDP) is designed to educate the next generation of technical leaders for the worlds future through leadership training, mentoring and community service opportunities. We are one of a very few STEM colleges in the nation that offers a technical leadership program that provides a direct bridge from leadership training to a career as a technical leader. The LDP is a two year program based on experiential learning. The first-year students are responsible to lead a community service project during their first two semesters. The second-year members are responsible to mentor the new students through the process and make sure that they not only execute their projects, but also that they lead and learn from the process. Besides the projects, all students meet twice weekly to go through team building activities, workouts, leadership presentations and updates about their projects. Students are also encouraged to apply their leadership knowledge on a STEM Registered Student Organization on campus. Examples of projects are that happen every semester: -Pancake Breakfast: To continue Dr. Spector’s Legacy, the LDP invites the whole university to study for a study session before finals where students can get help from friends and tutors, while enjoying pancakes and coffee; -Food Drive: in partnership with the Saluki Food Pantry, the LDP engage RSOs on campus to come together and fight hunger. We promote a competition of which RSO donates the most and as a result we can help many students in need; -Blood Drive: in partnership with the American Red Cross, the LDP collect signatures of people who would be willing to donate blood to the Red Cross. We increase awareness in the college in their classes, Student Organizations and tables around the university. The LDP also help students in the transition from college to the industry. With the help of corporate sponsors, the program has a 96% placement rate before graduation. Over the years, the program has proven that early leadership training can also help to fast-track their careers.

There is two kinds of selection for students. Current SIU students that wants to be part of the LDP are selected by the current students in the program. We invite those to Spring Orientation, which is an overnight event that we show people what the LDP does, our culture and some of our team building exercises. It’s a leadership experiential weekend that helps students to learn about us and us to learn more about them. After this weekend, students have the final decision if they want to join us or not. The LDP, with the financial support from NSF, also provides scholarships for STEM transfer students. The selection process is a little bit more complex than the one regular student go through. For transfer students, they are required to complete a scholarship application online and go through online interviews before being invited to Spring Orientation. From there, the process is the same.

Students meet regularly twice a week for workouts and leadership presentations. The curriculum includes teaching soft skills like how to give a proper hand shake, how to have a conversation, how to write an e-mail, how to write a thank you note and how to be early for meetings. We also teach students team building activities, how to have hard conversations, how to lead an effective meeting and how to work together as a team. Besides the soft skills and team skills, over the fall semester the curriculum also includes the book The Student Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, teaching the five exemplary practices of a leader. Over the spring semester, the curriculum is based on the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) curriculum. Students go over the 10 week curriculum before going to the competition in April. CLC happens in seven different locations in North America, where teams of six students are challenged with six different activities and evaluated in performance and completion of the activity.

Four of the collaborators of the program are either faculty or staff. Financial support comes from the corporate sponsors and from the National Science Foundation.

Saluki Certified Peer Educators (C.P.E.) submission information provided by Julie Robertson-Brooks, Wellness Coordinator for Wellness and Health Promotion Services, Student Health Services. Leadership Development Program submission information provided by Diogo Seixas, Coordinator.