"Special" Peer Mentorship

A unique component of the Thrive Orientation program is the one-on-one peer mentorship participants receive. Every student that enters the program is paired with an upper division student that will mentor them throughout their entire first year experience. Although every student is paired with an Orientation Advisor(s) when they participate in NSO, NSO Orientation Advisors (OA) support a larger group of students, are only responsible for supporting students through NSO, and may not understand the nuances that come with the multicultural experience. 

The Thrive OAs also serve as peer mentors, which are also known to participants as "Specials" and vice versa, because the relationship between our peer mentors and participants is just that, special. When a student is paired with one of our OAs, they have someone that they go to for support and guidance throughout their entire first year. Our OAs understand the nuances associated with the multicultural experience at a predominantely white institution (PWI) and college in general, because they’ve lived it themselves.