Being a student during such an overwhelming time like the pandemic can be exhausting, especially when one feels they have no one to reach out to when they need academic support. College students across the world are facing this challenge. At Sonoma State University, that support can be just an email or text away. 

Student Success and Advising, who are currently telecommuting, have recently opened an operation known as The Peer Success Coaching Program.

Senior Director of the Peer Success Coaching Program, Jamie Zamjahn, explained that the Peer Success program is a new addition to Student Success and Advising support services.

“Student Success & Advising is the umbrella area of The Advising & Transfer Center, NomaNation Orientation, Career Center, Transition Programs (FLC, SYE), and student success technologies (LoboConnect and SeawolfChat). The Peer Success Coaching program is our newest program to help connect students back to SSU in this remote modality,” said Zamjahn.

The program’s primary goal is to support Seawolves with either academic advice, guidance on adapting to distant learning, or ensuring that students at Sonoma state will stay track to graduate with the help of the Peer Success coaches. 

“In the Peer Success Coach (PSC) Program, PSCs are supporting their fellow Seawolves in maximizing their academic potential during this remote learning adjustment period,” said personal staff member Priscilla Saldana. 

“One of our goals is to ensure that students still feel connected to Sonoma State University, even if they are not physically on campus. We hope to meet that goal with our frequent outreach messages, informational flyers, and check-ins,” Saldana said.

Fourth-year student, Cristian Brown, a Lead Peer Success coach, disclosed that he has a positive experience with the new program and believes that the support system is being run by a responsible, well-developed crew.

“We have a great group of student leaders and professionals that are committed to helping students during this tough transition to online courses!” said Brown

Current STAR staff writer and previous Peer Success coach Emily Cripe explained that Peer Success coaches are essentially a human library of resources for students at Sonoma State. Cripe shared that each coach is assigned a caseload of students and it is their responsibility to reach each student and let them know that they have a support system available when needed. When the time comes, students can choose when they would like to utilize the resources the coaches have to offer. 

More specifically, Peer Success coaches can help students navigate remote learning, connect students with campus resources and academic advisors, help with students wanting to get involved with campus activities, organizations, or finding employment, provide tips on managing time, find motivation, and much more. Peer success coaches check in periodically through the semester and can even meet up for a one-on-one via Zoom or phone. 

“We are not currently hiring for the Peer Success Coach program for the fall 2020 semester, however, if a student was interested in getting involved in the future, they could reach out to me directly or reach out to their Peer Success Coach,” said Saldana when asked what would be the process if students were interested in joining such the Peer Success program.

Depending on the circumstances of each different and unique situation, it can be difficult to adapt to such a sudden change such as social distance learning and asking for help. There are students out there, possibly first-year college students, who are experiencing online school for the first time. 

The Peer Success Coaching Program can help those students become more comfortable with the process of transitioning to distance learning and ensure that they continue to stay on track for academic success. Each student at Sonoma State is assigned a coach, therefore each student should be receiving either an email or text message from their Peer Success coach, offering their services whenever it is needed.