By Pearl Ng’ang’a

On Friday February 2, the Peer Educators and Counselors Club (PECC) was invited to participate in a mentorship session by Nova Pioneer Girls Tatu. The school counselor tasked the club members to explore the topics of peer pressure, self-awareness and identity with the students. The club members achieved this by creating a safe environment in the classrooms, allowing the students to speak freely, and guiding them in opening themselves up to learning more about how they can grow in these key areas. The team that went to Nova Pioneer consisted of 33 club members and 4 counselors from the counseling center.

With the club having previously participated in mentorship sessions at both Nova Pioneer High Schools in Tatu City, the PECC members arrived at the school with a degree of preparedness and readiness to take on the day. The team was split into pairs where they engaged with all 16 streams ranging from Form 1 to Form 4 and interacted with the student population of about 400 girls. The team engaged in ice-breakers in their respective classes and proceeded to engage the students in the topics that they were assigned to tackle. There was a positive response from the students, as they were able to engage in personal discussions about their struggles with peer pressure and self-awareness in their journey to discover and cement their identities at a pivotal point in their lives. The time seemed to fly in the one hour that the team was assigned to carry out the mentorship session, however, the team was able to continue engaging and bonding with the students during their tea break and over refreshments.

The main objectives of encouraging the student body to positively discover their identities as they navigate peer pressure and self-awareness in their lives proved to be successful, as demonstrated by the pleasant feedback delivered from both the PECC members and Nova Pioneer. PECC is grateful for the multiple opportunities that Nova Pioneer has provided for its members to grow and looks forward to continuing this collaboration and fostering a deeper relationship with the students in their journey through high school.