Peer Educators

The Peer Education Program is designed for students to become leaders & advocates for health & wellness amongst their student peers. The Peer Education Program supports the Wellness & Health Promotion Department’s mission to promote multi-dimensional well-being through a holistic approach to wellness. The values Peer Educators uphold are honesty, respect, responsibility, & kindness.

College is an exciting time in a person’s life. But, college is also a huge adjustment as an individual becomes an adult. Campus life offers more autonomy & freedom, but also requires more responsibility because it comes with the potential for high-risk behaviors. College students are susceptible to drug & alcohol misuse, poor nutrition choices, poor sexual health choices, & poor time management skills. These risky behaviors can lead to a decline in academic performance, health concerns, stress, anxiety, & depression.

The Peer Education Program is designed to construct opportunities for students to become influential leaders on their campus. Peer Educators are students passionate about developing & maintaining a healthy & safe college campus through advocacy & education efforts. The Peer Education Program is grounded in the purpose of fostering positive influence on the UND campus to help students develop & maintain healthy decision-making skills, as well as prepare them for life after college.

The role of a Peer Educator is to mentor, lead, & educate their fellow peers. The Peer Education Program prepares students to be leaders within their community, foster healthy relationships, promote networking skills, & create role models.

As Peer Educators, their responsibilities are to encourage informative & open conversations about campus life & how to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle while in college.

Peer Educators communicate educational topics through Toilet Talks (a bi-monthly publication posted within the Wellness Center), Presentations (available by request), tabling (engaging students around campus), & events (various programs throughout the year promoting healthy behaviors).

The goal of a Peer Educator is to obtain knowledge & competency through research in various health-related topics that affect college students & identify preventative measures against high-risk behaviors to promote a healthy & safe campus community.

Peer Educators provide education & resources to other students to promote health & wellness.

The Peer Educator Program teaches fundamental skills that can be utilized throughout a person’s lifetime. The program includes the Certified Peer Educator (CPE) Training, a lifelong certification offered by National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). The CPE training teaches the basics of what a Peer Educator is, how to form connections with other students, explains theory & models, & helps develop evidence-based programming. Peer Educators become leaders on their campus & help create positive change within the student population.

The program benefits the entire campus by promoting a communicative & caring community. The Peer Educator Program offers an advocacy initiative designed to prevent high-risk behaviors that can be harmful to college students. The program encourages meaningful conversations about various topics that affect the student experience.

Skills Development
• Leadership
• Creativity
• Organization
• Time Management
• Networking
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Listening
• Critical Thinking

Interested in joining the Peer Educator team? Visit our Student employment page for position opportunities & information!