Blog: A Day in the Life of a Peer Educator - Alternatives For Girls

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Blog: A Day in the Life of a Peer Educator

Jan. 23 2013

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Christen

About the blogger: Christen is a high school senior and Peer Educator at AFG. She has been a PE for over a year. She is currently on the Youth Street Outreach Peer Education team.

My days have certainly changed since becoming a Peer Educator (PE) in Outreach. I am currently on a team called Youth Street Outreach, and I love being on this team! No day is the same going on shift. We go out into the community, spreading the word about AFG and offering resources. We talk to so many different females, some sharing their lives while others are apprehensive. And while doing our outreach, we become closer to one another and share too many laughs to count! Even though I’m the newest member on the team – they make me feel like I’ve been there just as long as they have.

On Youth Street Outreach, my days are just wonderful! Here’s a glimpse into a typical day for a PE:

4:30 p.m.- Our team meeting starts. We share our “roses” and “thorns” from our days, and laugh over one teammate’s story about her math class. We pack our bag, and it’s time to head out.

4:45 p.m.- We load into the vans, and our journey to find young women to talk to begins. Jessica starts telling a story, talking 100 miles per hour. Hope is our DJ via the radio, and Ms. Jaye, our staff coordinator, is just cracking up laughing.

5:00 p.m.- We are about to do Outreach at the Transit Center, which is where I enjoy going the most because there’s always young women to talk to. We see a girl and ask if we can talk to her, and she politely says, “No.”Aww man – we don’t get too many ‘no’s but when we do, it’s kind of a downer. But you have to go right back in and try with another girl, and she says “Yes.” Yay! We talk to her and give her a Teen Help Card (THC), and we head back to the van.

5:30 p.m.- Ms. Jaye announces, “OK ladies. Here’s a group of girls. Who’s going out?” We grab our bags and hop out. As we’re speaking to the young women, a girl mentions her friend is homeless. We tell her more about AFG and give her our number. Then another girl asks, “How’d y’all get this job?” We tell her about leadership training and how we became PEs.

6:00 p.m.-We get back in the van, and Ms. Jaye asks us how it went. We tell her about it, and we start going back to AFG. We complete our shift summary and make sure everything is correct.

6:30 p.m.- It’s dismissal time, and even though my nose is running and my hands are halfway frozen, I don’t even care because I know that with what I’m doing, I’m helping someone in some way, and that’s what makes me the most proud. My day was great.

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