Adventure of One of You

Adventure of One of You

        Hello everyone, my name is Ömer Faruk Acar. I’m a student in the Department of Economics at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University. So, I was a person just like you are right now. I’m writing this reflection to inform you about how LAP Clubs and PA program work and how they have affected me? And the most important question, worth or not? (Spoiler: It’s worth)

At the beginning of university life, we were in a pandemic period. Due to the pandemic, our university decided to do online education rather than face-to-face. This means we were in our own houses, in our hometowns. So, we couldn’t meet new people easily. Probably you can guess, you can not share your problems with anybody except your damn good friends. Like everyone, I have some close friends from high school for sure. But they were not at the same university as me. And to share your problems about your education life, you need some friends who have education with you in the same environment. Because of that, I struggled a lot with so many issues at the beginning of the university until I joined LAP Clubs for the first time …

    What was the LAP Club? It was a club for sure as they mentioned in their name. But what was that mean, and what did they try to do when they were mentioning them as LAP Club? There were so many questions I had to answer. But the only solution for me was to join the clubs. And here it is the beginning of the adventure.

    Basically, LAP Club was a place where we can meet with a moderator and other students who struggles with some learning issues. And what were we doing? We were listening to others’ problems, and we were sharing our problems too with the others. So, this is not the right term, but we were like a therapy group, like in the movies. And the best way of the club was there was no one who blamed or bullied or judged you. Can you believe that even the moderator wasn’t judging you! Who doesn’t want to be a part of this kind of group?

You can say “Oh, is that it? We can find friends to share problems now. So, who needs a group, duh?”. Yes, you’re right. But LAP Club is more than that.

There were presentations (tools) that our moderator presented to us. Those presentations were very useful to deal with problems like procrastination, daily planning etc. So, when you were satisfying yourself with the comfort of pure sharing, you were also learning other techniques to solve problems in basic too. I know, I know.. for some of you, it can sound boring, but believe me: It’s not. Just give it a try, and I promise you won’t regret it.

I talked about LAP in general and LAP Clubs. Now I can talk about how LAP affected me.

I was questioning a lot about the main motivation for my doings. Like “Why am I doing this or why should I do this rather than that?”. Because of that, most of the things that I’ve done before LAP sessions were meaningless for me. Hence, I couldn’t satisfy myself. And believe me, dude, you can not think about how important this to everyone is. From time to time, I felt like I was in a gap, in fact, an endless one. Then I started to attend LAP Clubs regularly. Every week I was just waiting for the clubs to share my problems. Because as I mentioned above, no one was blaming you for your problems. Just to mention again, “THERE WERE NO JUDGEMENTS!”

With the help of the presentations, moderators and (hold on) students, I started to overcome most of the questions that sparked in my mind. And yes, you heard that right, students were also effective for my adventure too. Speaking of which, maybe this was the best part of the LAP Clubs. Everyone can help everybody without judgement. Do you know what this means? They did understand each other. And believe me again, when you think someone does understand you, you feel like a feather. You start to break your chains.

As I mentioned, students can help you in the LAP Clubs. And think wisely; if other students can help you, why can’t you help others? Yes, you heard that right. In LAP Clubs you’re helping the others too. And if you like this idea, come closer, mate: This was just the beginning.

You’ve done with LAP Club sessions, but you have the feeling of “Hey, you can help the others like you!”. And welcome, you’re one of us right now. You are a potential Peer Advisor.

Here’s the Peer Advisor Program, which is the next step for the LAP Clubs. You’re learning how to help others as the moderators helped you when you were a student in LAP Clubs. Chill please, I can hear you yelling at me like “STUDENTS WERE ALSO HELPERS AS YOU SAID, WHY SHOULD I BE IN THE PA PROGRAM!”. Yes, students were also helping, but the moderators were the magicians. You can question this term a bit. Waiting, just a bit too…

Ring ring! Time’s up. Now you probably think a bunch of different things about the term “magician”. Now here’s the fact. Students were helping, but moderators have their special skills which they gained with the help of their mentors. Sounds interesting, right? To exemplify, once I didn’t want to talk or was not in my mood, they did something and abracadabra! I started to open up. It felt like a door opened with a secret key. Congrats to our moderators.

And now, here’s the best part about PA Program. You remember the moderators in the LAP Clubs, right? In the PA Program, they become your mentors. And as mentors, they’re teaching you the skills (which the magician doesn’t even talk about). And when you’re learning, you’re not just learning. You also change as a person in a good way. The skills which you can gain in the PA Program are useful in your daily life, too. What, example? Here’s one just for you!

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young student (who is not me!) finished the LAP Clubs. And at the end of the last session of the LAP CLubs, the moderator asked the student about being PA (stop thinking, it’s still not me!). The student asked about the PA program, and the moderator told him the things which I mentioned above in a more formal way :) This idea captivate our student, and he (or maybe she :) ) accepted the moderator's offer without thinking.

Time passed, and our student has become a PA. And what changed in his life? The student started to help people who had problems in their learning lives. Also, he (or maybe she) changed the way he speaks to others (okay! it’s me :)). And the change in his perspective was not just in this area. He started to look at life, himself and others from a more different perspective than before. He learned how to speak and listen. More importantly, he learned why he’s doing all these instead of lying in his bed all day long.

To finalize, maybe you want to change or maybe you want to answer. Or maybe you don’t know what you want to do in reality. Believe me, it doesn’t matter. The only precious thing in this life is you. Do you ask why? If you want to learn, we’re in the LAP Clubs and PA Program. Just give it a chance, mate. Believe me, I’m still who I am. And let me confess, I’m still questioning lot of things from time to time. But there’s a difference between before and now. I know questioning is also a part of the journey. The way of advising is full of getting advice, too. And believe me, searching for the answer is not as hard as before. And if you ask about the fun, yes, it is funnier to search for the answers now than before.

Again hello, I’m Ömer Faruk Acar: One of you, as another member of our family. Welcome aboard ..