By Emily Friedman, Dana Glaser and Carly Mandel 


Jason Mow ’09 sat in the quad during eighth period last May and thought about what he would bring with him if he was banished to a desert island.

Claire Seaver ’07 was sitting next to him and waited for his answer as Mow racked his mind for something to say — It was an infamous question, and he had known it was coming.

Still, he took a moment before replying carefully that he would take a friend and a bed.

He sat back only to be hit with another question: how could he make almost strangers comfortable enough to share their inner secrets?

In just under 15 minutes Mow had completed the second stage in the application process to become a Peer Support trainee: the interview.

Along with 60 members of last year’s sophomore class, Mow submitted an application at the end of April to be a trainee for the upcoming school year.

Prospective trainees were required to be current members of Peer Support. The application consisted of a page of questions about their strengths and weaknesses, what they like about Peer Support and their motivations for becoming a trainee.

Current leaders and trainees rated applicants from their groups on a scale of one to five. Then last year’s and this year’s coordinators interviewed the applicants.

Many of the questions  were based on those in the application.

The faculty members of Peer Support, Dr. Sheila Siegel and Luba Bek, discussed each applicant at length with the coordinators, and posted the list of traniees on the Peer Support website.

Others who did not make this list were put on a waiting list. The final number of trainees will be determined after the Peer Support signups occur.