It is 2022. While most classrooms at the school sit empty at 5:45 p.m. on a Monday evening, Rugby and Chalmers are quickly filled by students splitting into their Peer Support Rooms. Sophomore Nate Arnold ’25 walks into Rugby, for his first Peer Support meeting, nervous to meet the seniors in his group. As more students crowd the room and the loud conversations gradually quiet down, group leaders open the floor for members to speak — and one by one, students begin sharing vulnerable moments. As he watches the group grow closer and more open each week, Arnold’s nerves begin to fade. After coming back every Monday, he said he no longer felt intimidated by the older students in his group. Arnold said Peer Support has encouraged him to get to know people beyond his initial perceptions of them.
“Seeing how people in your group, who you have maybe created idealized versions of, are human too has been really great,” Arnold said. “They’re flawed and going through intense stuff sometimes, just like you. Learning all that has increased my baseline compassion and empathy for random strangers that I meet because I’ve had this experience of going from not knowing them to realizing that stuff is going on in their life.”
Peer Support began on the Upper School campus in 1992, a year after the Harvard and Westlake classes merged. It was started as an interpersonal counseling program where students in the new school could meet and form connections, with confidentiality being its main selling point. Peer Support has since grown to become the largest club at the school, with hundreds of students involved. It is run by two faculty program heads—Head of Peer Support and Interdisciplinary Studies and Independent Research Teacher Tina McGraw ’01 and Upper School Counselor Brittany Bronson — alongside four student coordinators, 26 senior leaders and 25 junior trainees.
Peer Support Coordinator Pearl Gatins ’25 said being a coordinator is about having dedication and being a welcoming figure for everyone that is part of the program.
“Being a [coordinator] means that you really are constantly giving your all to the program,” Gatins said. “It really helped me become a lot better at public speaking because there are so many opportunities to speak in front of the whole program. Most importantly, you’re just someone that everyone can go to. I really prioritize making sure I’m as approachable as possible for anything that’s peer support related. It isn’t much different from being a leader when in our groups, though. If anything, the dynamic shouldn’t be different.”
In 2023, the process of selecting new coordinators for the program switched from an all-student vote to a decision made by both faculty and student leaders. Currently, coordinators are selected through a multi-step process where they submit written applications and perform speeches for other leaders. Two coordinators are selected through a student vote and two are selected by the faculty heads.
Newly-elected Coordinator Sophia Wiczyk ’26 said Peer Support is a program which is really unique to the school and is hard for students from different schools to grasp.
“Sometimes when I drive to Peer Support, I call friends from outside of school in the car and explain where I’m going and what it is,” Wiczyk said. “Every time I try to explain it to them, they don’t really understand because they’ve never experienced anything like it. Harvard-Westlake does have a reputation for being extremely tough and for having stressed out, competitive students and [Peer Support] is just so unique to [the school] community. Peer Support was really made for this community, and really gives a space to walk away from all of that. It allows us to just be close and reconnect with peers because it reminds us of what a high school experience should be.”
In a 2020 interview with HW Life, Former Head of School and a founder of Peer Support Harry Salamandra said the program began as a small training program even before the merger. In 1988, Salamandra and Harvard School foreign language teacher Jordan Hampton began a training program for juniors and seniors to learn how to be supportive leaders on campus. The two taught students through a small textbook titled ‘Teens Helping Teens,’ which they adopted from the California Peer Support Association, according to Salamandra. Salamandra said that the program evolved post-merger because of the opportunity for collaboration between the boys and girls of Harvard-Westlake.
“We really expanded the program once the merger was announced because it was a good place for students, both boys and girls, to connect and work on a project together,” Salamandra said. “We figured Monday evenings were probably the least impacted by athletic events, so one Monday we would run it on the Coldwater campus, and one Monday on the North Faring Campus. We did that for about half a year before we merged the two groups of students together on the same campus. It turned out to be a wonderful program that continues to grow. Typically, on Monday nights, we have easily 400 students attending.”
McGraw said that Peer Support has evolved since it began, but the program has maintained its founding values.
“When I was a student here, it was a much smaller program than it is now,” McGraw said. “But it still has the goal of bringing the community together, and a lot of people who attend Peer Support say they actually feel a sense of community that they don’t get from the bigger school. Because we are such a big school, finding these little pockets of time and space for kids to connect [who] wouldn’t normally be together is meaningful.”
Former Peer Support Member and Actress Lily Collins ’07 said in an interview on The Supporting Cast podcast that Peer Support was the first community that made her feel more comfortable embracing vulnerability.
“Peer Support truly changed my life,” Collins said. “It was the first time, as a young person, that I was empowered to feel and not have shame attached to feeling and communication. I really believe that having a program like Peer Support was so life-changing because it allowed us, as students, to be able to feel empowered to ask questions, listen to one another. If you start at a young age being comfortable with your feelings and how you communicate, that helps you on your path to adulthood.”
Collins said the bonds she formed in her Peer Support group have lasted into her adult life, despite the different paths she and her friends took.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to since graduating has never said anything bad about Peer Support,” Collins said. “It’s this deep- found connection and history that I share with people. We may not be in the same industry or living in the same place, but whenever we see each other there’s that deep sense of knowing that we were a part of something special. I’m forever grateful for that.”
Arnold said being in a community like Peer Support has taught him to prioritize relationships with people who are thoughtful and understanding.
“Through Peer Support, I’ve seen how it’s possible to attain an awesome vibe of support, empathy and overall kindness,” Arnold said. “In the future, I won’t settle for people not being supportive or kind. I won’t spend my time on those people, and I’ll go search for the type of people I wanna be surrounded by, the type of people that are a part of Peer Support.”
While Peer Support is the largest club on campus, with hundreds of students enrolled in the program, some students who are not a part of the program do not feel as connected as those who are involved. Reed Reck ’26 said she admires the goals of the Peer Support program but did not feel it was the right fit for her.
“The best part about Peer Support is that you share the most personal things about yourself with random people that you would never really talk to, and that just never really appealed to me,” Reck said. “ I just didn’t feel comfortable because I don’t even feel comfortable opening up to my friends. Peer Support just exacerbated that fear. However, I do think that it’s the most diverse place on campus because the uniting factor is the excitement of Peer Support and the excitement of talking about stuff confidentially with kids your age.”
Wiczyk said she aims to be a leader who is welcoming to all.
“I want to be the kind of leader that people feel comfortable around,” Wiczyk said. “Peer Support is literally intended to support your peers and, as a coordinator, it’s so important to be really approachable and friendly. I want people to feel comfortable enough to talk to me about whatever is going on in their life, no matter how great of an accomplishment or how dark of a time they’re in. I really hope that, as a leader, people do see that I am approachable and that they can confide in me with whatever they need.”
