PAL Students
“Shaharyar was the best!”
“Shaharyar was a life saver. He was extremely helpful and I would be failing Chem. without his tutoring. I highly recommend him to anyone. He is spectacular.”
“Shaharyar was a very effective tutor and did everything he could to help.”
“BY 111 and lab are the most difficult course for me. Samantha, our PAL sessions leader, offered the great help for us. It seems to me that after I attended the review sessions, my self-confidence (with this class) went up. Since English is my second language, there are lots of new and strange vocabularies I have to know for this class. I had a very tough time during the first two weeks, but after Samantha made audio recordings for me during the semester, it helped my study much easier. I used this listening to learning method for my lab practical every day. I felt that it is very important because the sound made me focus better. It is a great encouragement when I have my second lab practical back—I had a 99 out of 100! It was a great feeling studying with PAL in MU. I hope that I will have another chance to attend PAL sessions again for my next semester! Thank you!”
“Sam was very helpful and accommodating to everyone who attended the meetings. She also eased everyone’s nerves when we were scared about certain assignments, like the practical.”
“Sam was very helpful to us. I feel like I did well in the class mainly because of her help.”
“Tia was great!”
“Jonas is the best!”
“Jonas was extremely helpful with anatomy. He worked with my schedule and his hours were very flexible. I was also able to contact him whenever I had a question!”
“Jonas was very helpful during lab times.”
Sessions were very helpful for me. Kelly helped a lot on finding out where to look for information and organizing thoughts. She was very encouraging and willing to be available whenever needed.”
“PAL is the only reason why I stayed in this course. My PAL leader was absolutely fantastic and is the only reason why I understood the content. I felt extremely comfortable asking her questions and working through the material with her. Thank you very much!”
“Lauren is awesome. She is so helpful and sweet! She really knows her stuff and is willing to do whatever we need done at the time!”
“Sam was great!”
“PAL is the best thing ever. Mark and Lauren got me through Chemistry. I would have dropped the course. They were great!”
“Filomena was an excellent PAL instructor and a big help.”
“Without PAL for this course, my grasp of the content would not be nearly as firm. It was particularly useful for this type of interactive content.”
“Without PAL I would have done very poorly in this course. It should be offered every term for students.”
“PAL was extremely helpful.”
“The PAL sessions were very helpful and really kept me on top of my physics studies. I would definitely suggest the PAL sessions to other students!”
“Puja was excellent. Always willing to help and explain. She explained everything on a great level where the students would understand.”
“Honestly, I found the PAL sessions very helpful. If it was not for my PAL leader, Jared, I do not know if I would have passed Western Civ. The extra help that Jared gave myself along with my group helped us all get A’s on the exams and some of us kept improving each exam we were given. I would encourage anyone who is struggling to attend these PAL sessions because I found them very helpful!”
PAL Faculty
“I have been encouraging [my students] to attend because I think it is a great program! Tia is doing an excellent job and the students seem to like her and what she is doing. I hope this program continues in future semesters.”
“I think PAL is really helpful. The PAL culture has started to spread among students. They are comfortable about asking for help, looking for their favorite leaders, trying to attend as many sessions as they can.”
“Thank you for the terrific work that the student PAL leaders, Mark, Lauren, and Samantha, are doing. The students from my section who have been attending the PAL sessions have only positive things to say about their experience. I will continue to encourage my students to take advantage of the PAL program in this and in future semesters.”
PAL Leaders
“This has been a truly humbling experience as an PAL leader for Gen. Chem. this fall. I learned how students come from vast different backgrounds and need help in different ways. I was able to learn the material from another side of the table and had a great time facilitating the flow of information to the students in the process.” – Shaharyar A.
“This was my first semester as an PAL leader and I’ve loved my experience. I was welcomed into the PAL leader family with open arms. Neva was extremely welcoming, and I made friends with other PAL leaders. I loved the opportunity to help students in their BY110 class and work one-on-one with the class’s teacher. Being an PAL leader also helps me in my path toward becoming a teacher. Overall, I love the opportunity to help other students achieve a better grade. I will be returning next fall as an PAL leader for biology, and I’m excited to begin work again!” – Geena B.
“Being a Managerial Accounting PAL leader was such a great experience this past year. Not only was I able to meet new people, I was able to learn more and enhance my knowledge of my own major. I was able to further understand aspects of accounting when I had to explain to my peer students why and how we solved the given problems. This job is definitely one of the best choices I made throughout my college career. Now, as I interview for internships and jobs pertaining to my major, Peer Assisted Learning distinguishes me from others. I get to talk about my experience as an PAL leader, and I also get to talk about what I learned from this great experience. I am very happy I get the opportunity to be an PAL leader for another year!” – Ottaviana D.
“Over the past two years, I have been the History PAL leader for both HS101 and HS102. As a History and Education major here at Monmouth University, I can gladly say I sincerely enjoyed every bit of helping my students. As a prospective high school teacher, I found that teaching the students in my PAL sessions was very similar to teaching in a classroom setting. For any Education major here at Monmouth who wants to get practical teaching experience (and get paid for it), I would highly recommend the PAL program. These past two years were amazing, most likely because I got to do what I love, and that was teaching history. I hope this program stays around for a long time because the benefits to both the PAL leaders and the students coming to the session is tremendously rewarding.” – Jared S.
“I truly enjoyed working as an PAL leader. This program is rewarding for both the leader and the students. The best moments were when they finally started to understand the topic and gaining confidence in themselves. The students were very interested in coming to the sessions and always gave me positive feedback. I would highly recommend attending the sessions or becoming a leader!” – Ashley Z.
“I really enjoyed being an PAL leader. I think this program has the potential to really help struggling students and it is beneficial for PAL leaders as well. I learned a lot by working with other students and I was also able to build positive relationships with faculty members. Becoming an PAL leader was the best decision I could have made.” – Jenani J.
“There is definitely usefulness in the program since it has the potential to make students more comfortable with unfamiliar material. Also, I never remembered a boring PAL session- everyone was involved and enjoyed the learning process. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of this great learning experience!” – Puja S.
“As an PAL leader, I generally found that a well-implemented program gave more confidence to the student willing to earn a better grade in his or her class, which translated into increased participation of the student, and instilled a greater feeling that he or she can more meaningfully think critically . . . Moreover, the convenience and familiarity students get to feel with the PAL leader means that they are more likely to accomplish a greater level of learning.” – Michael S.