Peer Leadership Program

The Peer Leadership Program, often known as Peer, is a school-run organization that looks upon upperclassmen to help ease the transition of freshmen to high school. Now found in many high schools and colleges across the United States, the Peer Program focuses on team building in creating trust and friendship throughout the school community. Before meeting with smaller groups of newcomers the larger Peer organization is trained to deal with the psychological and emotional needs the newcomers may express. Steven Schultz, a peer leader at South Brunswick High School, is credited with introducing many new reforms of peer leadership and development at the 2006-2007 New Jersey Peer Retreat.

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The Five Stages Approach

The methodology most commonly used in training the members of Peer is known as the Five Stages Approach, which teaches Peer leaders about the five stages of a group, which are:

Stage One: "Forming", which understands that upon first creating groups, the members will be nervous and anxious. This stage remains crucial as it lays the path for a leader to emerge.

Stage Two: "Norming", following "forming", is the stage in which group members begin to adjust to their new social atmosphere. The Peer members themselves begin to stand out as role models for the younger members.

Stage Three: "Storming", the stage in which the freshmen begin to fight for roles in the group. Often conflict erupts emotionally as true feelings are expressed and group members learn about how others perceive them.

Stage Four: "Performing", the point in which the group members are comfortable with each other. Unlike the stage preceding it, most of the emotions felt on this level are of trust and kindness as similarities within the group are realized. This emotional closeness, however, marks the end of the group as Stage Five arrives.

Stage Five: "Mourning and Reform", the final stage which involves a parting of ways as group members review and reflect on the past. At the same time, they also focused on changing for the future. It becomes the responsibility of the Peer leader to guide their group through this process. Despite learning it as a standard procedure the actual process of becoming a quality Peer group involves much more than understanding the five stages. Peer leaders encourage members to express themselves openly and honestly while at the same time ensuring confidentiality. As this trust grows the groups try exercises that will bring them closer as a group and hopefully build bonds as a school community. Peer encourages a healthy and safe environment for the necessary transition from one school to the next to occur. As a symbol of this closeness Peer members often acknowledge each other and their groups with a soft fist pound. This represents the teamwork and closeness built within the program and the soft nature expresses the emotional trust the Peer leaders and members have for each other.

Peer Recognition

Peer leaders often have various ways of acknowledging each other as well as expressing the Peer bond and emotional trust between Peer leaders. There are many levels on which Peer recognition functions, starting from the most basic and common form to the most complex form:

Level 1: "Fist Peer": This is a soft fist pound in which Peer leaders recognize each other and express their bond through Peer, often repeating such phrases as "Peer" or "Peer love". This is by far the most common form of Peer recognition.

Level 2: "Eye Peer": This type of recognition involves Peer leaders making eye contact with each other for several seconds, followed by a slight head nod, which signifies that both leaders recognize each other as fellow Peer members. The Eye Peer works well because it can allow Peer members to bond from long distances.

Level 3: "Mental Peer": The Mental Peer allows a Peer leader to recognize the presence of other Peer members without making direct contact, as well as allowing the Peer member to recognize when other members are thinking of Peer.

These 3 levels are the only known levels of Peer recognition, although other, more complex forms are reputed to be in development. Some forms of Peer recognition vary from school to school and program to program and may contain handshakes, shared sayings or certain high five like motions or dance moves. These forms of peer recognition are usually handed down through the years and their exact meanings safegaurded.