Apprenticeships: They’re Kind of a Big Deal

As I’m sure you’ve realized by now, graduate apprenticeships are an integral part of the Baylor HESA program. Apprenticeships provide HESA students with the opportunity to apply theory to practice, grow professionally, and form stronger connections within the Baylor community. However, as evidenced by Kaitlyn and RaeLynn’s posts, no two apprenticeships are exactly alike. Accordingly, over the course of the next month various 2^nd year HESA students will be posting about their apprenticeships. My hope is that these posts will provide you with greater clarity regarding the various apprenticeship opportunities that will become available this year.

So let’s start with my own apprenticeship. I am the graduate apprentice in the Office of the Dean for Student Learning & Engagement. So what exactly does that mean? Basically, everything that I do relates to promoting the success of first-year students at Baylor University. Thousands of first-year undergraduate students arrive at Baylor every fall and I work to help support those students as they transition to a university setting. My supporting first-year students has taken a variety of forms from co-facilitating a section of the first-year seminar course, to organizing and conducting focus groups of first-year students, to coordinating an academic transition program for orientation, to streamlining the set-up and coordination of the various sections of Baylor’s required first-year seminar course. However, the primary way that I have worked to support first-year students is by coordinating the Baylor University Peer Leader Program.

The Peer Leader Program is a student leadership and mentoring program that connects first-year students with upperclassmen peers. Peer Leaders play an important role in supporting first-year students. They meet one-on-one with first-year students, plan group activities, assist with the instruction of a first-year seminar course section, and take a three-credit leadership course to further their understanding of leadership theory. For the past year and half I have had the honor of recruiting, resourcing, and supporting these Peer Leaders. It has been an absolute joy to work with student leaders who are so strongly committed to welcoming, teaching, and mentoring first-year students. They are an excellent example of how Baylor University is truly a caring community.

Scott Shepherd
2^nd Year HESA Student