PEER MENTORING PROGRAM

Background

NGA has a diverse student body. Each year it welcomes students from all over Kyrgyzstan as well as from Afghanistan and other countries. NGA students usually face certain difficulties in adapting to a new academic environment, especially those students coming from the remote parts of Kyrgyzstan who are less prepared for a university level study in a liberal academic environment. International students on top of the academic adaptation are faced with challenges associated with the integration into a local culture. Having all this, NGA Peer Mentoring Program has been developed to function as an additional source of student support which is not always available in a classroom setting.

The Peer Mentorship Program was initiated in 2013 with the first NGA graduates wishing to help the new comers in their efforts to take the most out of their one prep year. As NGA graduates have had experience being in the Program, they can advise the current NGA students on many issues. NGA graduates, the mentors, help current NGA students, the mentees, not only with their classes or in preparation for the exams, but they also encourage the mentees to actively be involved in the extracurricular activities that NGA and AUCA have to offer. Also they are the experts in the undergraduate student experience, which could be only beneficial to NGA current students who will pass into AUCA.

The mentors take a creative approach in helping the mentees to settle into the new schedule and lifestyle of a preparatory program, which turned the Mentorship program into an ‘edutainment’ program. The mentors also gain from mentoring as they improve their communication, leadership skills. Through this Program, the mentors stay connected to NGA and inspirit a sense of helpfulness in the next generation of young leaders. The relationship between the mentor and mentee allow the mentee to have a sense of being connected to the larger AUCA community where they may otherwise feel lost.

Mission

The mission of the NGA Peer Mentoring Program is to aid recent high school graduates in transition from high school to a university level study at NGA by providing support, advice, encouragement and friendship to increase success in their academic, social, personal development and engagement with the Program. The one-on-one nature of the relationships between the mentor and mentee is designed to help the mentee to quickly integrate into the AUCA community.

Goals

• Motivate students to strive to get good education
• Develop their personal skills
• Inform about opportunities for student development
• To give them complementary skills for their personal and community development
• To serve as a positive role model for mentees
• Information sharing about various social opportunities
• Sharing experience of studying at AUCA departments, plus outside of AUCA (for this maybe you want to invite non AUCA students? We also need to invite Afghan and other international students for mentoring?
• Cultural enrichment

Descriptions and goals of the main activities:

I  Academic classes on Math, English

• The first task of this club is to prepare the students of preparation program to pass the entrance exams of AUCA and other national and international universities.
• The second task is  to prepare NGA graduates for university education by providing necessary information and skills
• The third task is to assist the NGA students of AUCA on their academic issues by helping them to improve their writing, problem solving and analyzing and other skills necessary for successful study.

II Extracurricular and social activities

• This club is aimed at engaging the students to social activities and events.  All students are welcome to take active part in “Student Life”, organize and take part in visiting the senior citizens’ house, orphans or hospitals.
• This club also organizes and mobilizes the students to take part in various competitions and tournaments, announces about essay, photo and other possible competitions within and beyond AUCA such as “Brain ring”, “Math”, “STREAM” etc.

III   IT Media

• Main purpose of this club is creating a platform where students can practice their skills to work with basic information technologies creating visual, audio and video products for academic purposes and for their own benefit. AUCA welcomes the students, who are good at using new Information Technologies and the students should have basic skills to work with them. The members of this clubs receive main skills of taking photo, shooting video and processing them on computer software.

IV Professional orientation

• Coordinators of this club help prep-students to choose the very right department; they help to fill application forms, assist in collecting necessary attachment documents, inform about programs of certain departments and scholarships.
• Students in charge organize guest lectures on various academic and nonacademic themes inviting potential speakers.
• They also help to cope with stress and share their methods of time management. Within this club, students also organize informal and tension-free talks with each other, play games, make “ice breaks”, team buildings, movie night, and cultural parties, outside trips.