By Sukaina Al Abbas
DUBAI — She does not leave her house without wearing one of her most prized possessions, her green tag. She frequently gets stopped and asked questions by students and professors as she paces confidently around Zayed University’s campus.
As a Zayed Scholar, success is an important aspect in her academic life. There is a very special place in her heart for where she works. There, she utilizes her impeccable communication skills and puts to use to her outstanding academic achievements.
Orange and green symbolize social communication, optimism and growth, and that is exactly what the Peer Assistance Leader (PALs) program stands for. She is Fatima Khalfan, also known as a PAL.
“I want to develop myself through helping others succeed, and I am able to do it through the PALs,” says Ms. Khalfan, a College of Sustainability Sciences and Humanities sophomore.
It all began on a humble note when the PALs program first opened its doors in ZU back in spring of 2011 with only 15 female PALs. Today, there are over 70 PALs – 10 of which working in Accessibility – and they have assisted, tutored or mentored over 1,500 students this semester. Generally each semester they deal with over 1,000 students. There is also a male PALs program with 16 PALs. The ultimate mission and duty of a PAL is to offer academic assistance to other ZU students.
“To me the PALs has been influential and essential for this university. I see it as an important program to centralize high achieving students to help other students who need assistance,” says the PALs Coordinator David Kerr. “It is also an additional support system and is in no way replacing other existing support mechanisms in the university.”
The PALs is a diverse and dynamic community that represents students from all the different colleges of the university, where they can showcase and utilize their strong academic and professional skills to help serve their community.
“… Also the beauty of this program is that it promotes Emiratisation … and it creates leaders … women and men who can go into the world and leave from here and say, ‘I’m confident now,’” says Mr. Kerr.
Students who visit the center are extremely satisfied and pleased with the assistance and support they receive from the PALs. According to the report on PALs and Academic Support Tutor programs, 93 percent of the students circled “Excellent” when asked to rate the PAL they have just completed a session with.
“If there was no PALs, I don’t know what I would do … A lot of girls would be lost,” says Fatima Al Janahi, a Colloquy freshman.
The PALs program has experienced a successful journey, and is still continuing on its pathway to success by focusing on other features such as developing stronger marketing strategies and expanding the program even more, possibly into a teacher assistance role.
“I’ve been with the PALs from the very start of the program, and I’ve seen it develop massively, and it still has potential to grow even more,” says Noora Essa, the PALs Mentor Coordinator and a College of Business senior. “We use our success to help others succeed.”
In fact, Ms. Essa has increased her GPA to above 3.9 since being a PAL, which shows it does not interfere with her studies.
The PALs center is located opposite the blue auditorium, in the new Learning Commons. For more inquiries, write to Pals@zu.ac.ae.
This story was originally published on May 30, 2013. It was re-uploaded on Nov. 2, 2020. The photo that accompanied this story was lost due to the loss of the domain name.
