Connectors Peer Mentorship

The Scholar's Electives Connectors Program connects first-year and upper-year Scholars' Electives (SE)  students. The upper-year students (connectors) will provide first-year students (connectees) with academic, extracurricular, and social support to help ease the transition to university.

Program Goal

We encourage each pair of students to tailor the program according to their own needs and interests – the focus of the connection may be academic, social, general advice, or whatever best suits both the connector and connectee.

Submit Your Profile

If you wish to participate on the Connectors Program, either as connectee or connector, please email the Connectors Program Student Coordinator Catherine Jung at cjung44@uwo.ca.

Benefits

For Connectees:

  • Add another person, besides your RA and Faculty Soph, to your list of peer support figures
  • Share your concerns, questions, and experiences with a fellow Scholar's Elective student, just like you!
  • Have direct access to SE contacts
  • Construct new friendships with like-minded students
     

For Connectors:

  • Share your personal experience and experience with SE peers
  • Refine your social and leadership skills
  • Build up a resume of extra-curricular activities
  • Immerse yourself further into SE activities
  • Construct new friendships with like-minded students


What's Involved?

Connectees can have a cup of coffee with their connectors, plan a dinner date, go to the movies, or schedule studying dates! Connectees and connectors can also participate in all of the fun SE activities during the academic year, which may include:

  • Scholar's Kick-off
  • Stepping Stones events
  • Scholar's Serves
  • International Night
  • Film Screenings
  • Alumni Night
  • Career Night
  • Public Speaking Workshops
  • Speed ​​Networking
  • Conference / Poster Showcase


Student Testimonials

"Through this program I connected with other Scholar's students at the planned activities and events and had extra support when I had trouble in school; whether it was choosing a class to take or deciding which clubs to join. It was nice to be able to see familiar faces between classes when I was still getting used to moving away from home to university. I am glad I took full advantage of this opportunity which helped me to make the most of my first year experience. The new friendships I developed and the lessons I learned will stay with me for the rest of my time at Western and beyond." - Justine Czajka, Medical Science

"This past year, my mentor was an invaluable source of guidance, especially when it came to one of the more stressful aspects of the program - finding a research supervisor. Having already been through the process multiple times, she was primed with answers and tips to the many concerns that inevitably came to mind. Having this additional support system eased the entire university transition and was definitely an integral part of my successful first-year experience in Scholar's and at Western." - Niv Govindaraju, Health Science

"Entering Western, I was nervous about whether I would be able to maintain the success that I had in high school. It was a great experience to be able to hear from an older Scholar’s Electives student who had been in my shoes only a year prior. As well, having a Scholar’s Electives student as a mentor allowed a better connection to form because she had more of an understanding of the type of student I was and the type of student I could be." - David Freedman, Social Science