Allison Maladore, featured above with her peer mentor, Brittany Lytle, is a current Doctoral Student of Public Health (DrPH) at the School of Community and Global Health (SCGH). Allison co-leads the DrPH Support Group at SCGH.

Allison shared the following about the power of peer mentoring: “Peer mentoring is powerful. Experiencing the challenges of something like graduate school is a shared connection. I strongly believe in lifting everyone around me up because we share the same mission, the same core goals, and the same dreams: to graduate and succeed. No one knows the experience better than your very own classmates, or rather, your colleagues. Peer mentoring allows growth, development, and honestly, fun-really. I have met so many incredible peers in my program that I am proud to call my friends and colleagues and reaching out to others is what got me there. Thus, my advice to a new student at CGU is to find your people. You can start at the various student organizations-that is what they are created for. And you can start small! Peer mentoring is not just advice about certain courses or career trajectories; it is also about sending a random meme or emoji to your group project members to remind them that you’re in this project together! At the end of the day, peer mentoring is about having each other’s backs- and I am deeply grateful for all my CGU peers who have and continue to mentor me today.”