Even on a campus as welcoming as Notre Dame, making the transition from high school to college can be difficult. This is especially true in a field such as engineering, where classes may be unlike anything students experienced in a high school environment. Since the College of Engineering developed a Peer Mentors program in 2005, upperclassmen have worked to ease this transition and foster a welcoming atmosphere for first-year engineering students.

Kerry Meyers, the course coordinator for the First Year Engineering Course Sequence, explains that the idea is for juniors and seniors to serves as mentors to the incoming class of students. One of these volunteer mentors, Beth Mink ’10, felt that the program provided her with a great opportunity to reflect on her own experiences as a first-year engineer, while at the same time allowing her to help students who encounter the same problems that she once faced.

Mink, a senior civil engineer major focusing on environmental engineering, stresses that not all of her responsibilities are focused on study sessions and problem sets. “We are there to help first-year students realize that engineers can have fun with engineering,” she says.

The mentors host social activities, such as ice-skating and whiffle ball, while also scheduling career events and service opportunities. In the past, these service projects have included blanket making for local cancer patients, a toiletry drive in coordination with the Center for the Homeless, and a Christmas giving tree.

Meyers explains that students have no obligation to participate in the events, but are welcome to attend the social and academic activities that occur throughout the year. The peer mentors plan and coordinate events, almost like a “Frosh-O” staff. In this case however, rather than building camaraderie within a dorm, the goal is to develop a community within the College of Engineering, and to welcome first-year students to the program.

“The best part of the program is being able to see changes in the first-year engineers throughout the year,” Mink says, “From my first meeting with a group of freshman until our last event of the year, it’s almost as if they are different people—more confident and sure of what they want from the College of Engineering.”