PeerTakes Project
Kelsey: She turned her past into leadership experience.
Student Profile
Kelsey · Marshall University · Health Sciences
“I was excited my service-learning class was doing PeerTakes projects because mistakes I made in high school cost me time and money in college and I knew firsthand that more guidance counseling was needed. Teaming up with my old teachers and coaches to mentor students was the perfect way to practice the leadership styles we were talking about in class, and I did not stop at the grade—I turned it into real experience I could put on my resume.
The Challenge
Kelsey knew the gaps in high school guidance because she lived them. She wanted leadership experience that mattered, not another line on a resume.
The Project
She partnered with her former high school coaches, teachers, and staff to build mentoring sessions for students who were making the same decisions she once made.
Skills Demonstrated
- Leadership
- Coaching
- Communication
- Relationship Building
- Empathy
- Critical Thinking
Frameworks Applied
The thinking behind the work — the part employers and community partners recognize right away.
Collective Impact
Her service-learning class measured social impact individually and as a class, so her mentoring counted twice: her own outcome, and the cohort's shared result.
Systems Thinking
She traced the gap back upstream. The students weren't the problem, the guidance they were getting was, so she built the fix where the decisions actually get made.
Applied collective impact and systems thinking to a peer-mentoring project with former teachers and coaches; reached more high school students than anyone in a 20-person service-learning class.
Name the lens, the move, and the number. Only list what you can back up in an interview.
Experience Translated Into Proof
- Created documented proof of leadership, coaching, and relationship-building by mentoring younger students.
- Collaborated with former high school coaches, teachers, and staff to create mentoring opportunities.
- Motivated athletes to focus on academic success by sharing challenges college athletes often face.
- Demonstrated empathy by sharing her story of aiming for college even though it isn't the norm for her community.
- Used critical thinking to trace the guidance gap upstream and build the fix where decisions actually get made.
- Achieved the highest number of mentoring impressions out of 28 students in her service-learning class.
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Visibility Created
- A defensible leadership narrative for her Application Packet with specific numbers behind it.
- Resume accomplishments tied to real mentoring outcomes.
- LinkedIn content showing consistent service and leadership.
Opportunities Created
- Ongoing relationships with educators and coaches who can vouch for her.
- Invitations to lead more mentoring sessions.
- A credible answer to "tell me about a time you led."
Student Advice
“Start with the thing you already understand better than most people. Your experience is more useful to someone behind you than you think.”
Related Project Launcher
PeerTakes is the framework Kelsey used to turn everyday access into experience worth showing.
Ready To Build Your Own Advantage?
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