As Mary Catherine Shepherd works her way through the information systems junior core, she recalls a time when she was less sure of her path. Shepherd found guidance in the BYU Marriott School of Business Undergraduate Advisement office, where she now works with other trained peer advisors who rely on their own BYU Marriott experiences to help pre-business students seeking light and advice on an individual level.
“Working as a peer advisor allows me to share light and make a difference because I'm able to validate the student and what they're feeling or thinking,” Shepherd says. In the advisement office, she helps students explore business majors, plan courses, discuss applications, and set goals.
The peer advisors act as an important point of contact for pre-business students, says Ashley Bell, an academic advisor for BYU Marriott. With more than 3,000 pre-business students to think about, full-time academic advisors rely on the help of peer advisors to provide students with individualized help. “The peer advisors are our frontline,” Bell says. “They can help students feel welcomed and encouraged.”
Peer advisor and finance student Christian Townsend, from Prosper, Texas, says he sees himself in the students he encourages. “My favorite part about being a peer advisor is meeting with students who I see really embody what I was two years ago,” he says. “They can be down on themselves, and the light that we share that things are going to be okay—that they have a plan and that it’s a good plan—it lightens them up.”
Shepherd says she was surprised early on as a peer advisor at how much love and concern she felt from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for the students she was helping. “I have developed a deeper understanding that They care about what we care about,” Shepherd says.
And seeking divine help is one way that Rachel Wasden, a peer advisor and strategy student from Spanish Fork, Utah, says she tries to add more light to her conversations with students. “You need the Spirit to know what a nervous student is actually trying to say and get to the real problem,” she says. “There’s a lot of Christ’s light involved whenever you’re trying to help or serve an individual.”
Working closely with individual students has helped Wasden build relationships, which she says is one of her favorite aspects of working in the advisement office. Wasden says she feels especially fulfilled and excited when she sees students she helped the year before now wearing IS backpacks or strategy jackets.
Although the peer advisors themselves might not be starting new majors, they share how assisting other students has helped them grow personally. “They’ve uplifted me throughout my day as much as I’ve been able to help them,” says Abby Shuman, a MAcc student from Las Vegas.
In addition to feeling uplifted, Shuman believes working as a peer advisor has helped her improve her ability to communicate with others and solve problems. While working as a peer advisor, Shuman has seen growth not only in herself but also in the students she works with. “I feel that by guiding students and giving them resources to get into these programs, we are helping build Christlike leaders,” Shuman says.
And Bell says she sees the peer advisors embody leadership principles, too: “The students are leaders amongst themselves, and they have an influence on each other,” Bell says. “They can inspire and help students achieve their goals even in small ways, and they’re doing that in an environment that is full of light and respect and faith.”