Celebrating 30 years of the International Peer Guide program!

Hear from past participants, flip through our photo gallery and share your memories of being in the program on our memory board.

Click here to view the video on Youku.


Three decades of the Peer Guide program at Western

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Thirty years ago, a powerful student mentoring program was launched at Western. Since then, the International Peer Guide program has been helping new international students succeed, while helping upper-year students build connections, friendships, and career skills.

Developed as an initiative to provide mentorship and resources for students coming from abroad, the Peer Guide program quickly became a community, offering the more than 5,000 students who have participated countless opportunities to share laughter, to provide or accept a helping hand, and to find a sense of belonging at Western.


View the full story

Peer Guide Program Photo Gallery


Stories from Peer Guides & Peers

Roberto Hernandez-Enriquez

Former Peer

"Being in the program helped me a lot to develop more skills, to socialize and to get along with people from other countries. I learned to listen and understand that sometimes they have different points of view. That has helped me working in an international position."

Dr. Peter Park

Former Peer Guide

"I wanted to make the Western student experience for exchange students and international students comforting and positive. I felt like I could offer my perspective being an immigrant myself. I have so many incredible memories and lasting relationships."

Georgette (Jette) Stubbs

Former Peer Guide

"My favorite part about my career now is the same thing that I loved about being a Peer Guide: I get to see the transformation in people's lives. You can physically see the shift in people's faces when they go from stress to happy."

Jose Javier Pineda

Former Peer Guide

"Being a peer guide exposed me to new ideas and new cultures. It made me more comfortable speaking to people from all walks of life – because everyone had a really interesting story to tell. Being in the program made me step out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to connect with new people."

Boqing Li

Former Peer

"I’m so glad I signed up for a peer guide. We’ve had so much fun together. In the beginning, we were strangers and it was my first year in Canada, so it was hard for me to talk to people in English, but we ended up becoming best friends."

Faraj Haddad

Former Peer Guide

"I think being a peer guide helped me develop empathy for others. I learned that the same challenges can be experienced in totally different ways by others, and being a peer guide helped me put myself in others’ shoes, which was essential in order to be their guide and mentor."

Jimmy Li

Former Peer and Peer Guide

"I always think back to the peer guide training days where every year staff would tell a story of starfish being saved by a person on a beach. The moral of the story is that everyone can make a difference, even if that difference affects one person. That had a profound impact on me."

Rachel Crowe

Former Peer Guide

"I'm grateful for having had the opportunity to volunteer with the Peer Guide program. I met a lot of truly incredible people and I feel like it really set me up for what I decided to take on after I graduated, both in my personal and professional life."

Gem Lee-Herder

Former Peer Guide

"Being a peer mentor is amazing. It's about supporting each other, too. Both peer guides and the peers we supported were helping each other. So, we were equal – we were both giving and receiving. I think I’ve always carried that mentality with me in my work."

Find more information about how to participate in the Peer Guide program.