First in the Family | Peer Mentoring, SOAR and Starting Without a Map
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SU Student Success Initiative Series: Episode Twelve.
Recorded on Friday 16 October 2026.
If nobody at home has done university before, there is no one to ask the small questions. What is a module? How does registration work? Is it normal to feel this lost in week two? This conversation is about who answers those questions, and about the students who found their way without a map.
Jacolette Kloppers hosts the twelfth of 15 conversations on Lunch Club, joined by Dr Joy Petersen from the Centre for Student Life and Learning, together with four SU students: Siphesihle Gama (third year, Computer Science), Tasreeq Goliath (second year, BA Development and Environmental Science), Thabang Ramashia (first year, BA International) and Brandall Swartz (third year, BA International).
What we cover in this episode:
- What a first-generation student actually is: Dr Petersen sets out who the term covers, the specific challenges that come with being the first in your family to reach higher education, and what meaningful support looks like rather than generic encouragement.
- The SOAR journey, start to finish: From the January invitation that arrives before the official welcoming programme, right through to the end of first year. Dr Petersen walks through what a newcomer actually experiences along the way.
- Bringing parents in: How families are drawn into the picture, and why that matters when nobody at home has been through it either.
- Why peer mentoring works: Soundboards and role models, how the mentor system runs across SU residences and student communities, what mentors are responsible for, and the training they receive before they start.
- Does it actually work? Dr Petersen on how the impact of these initiatives is measured, and what students themselves say afterwards.
- Four students, four routes here: Each guest tells their own story – how they chose Stellenbosch and ended up here, what they struggled with, which environments helped and what they would do differently.
- Making the most of campus: What they are involved in beyond lectures, what a full student life has given them, and what they would say to a first-generation student or newcomer starting next year.
Where to find support:
SU website: https://www.su.ac.za/en/students/success – or from the SU homepage, click Students, then Support, then Student Success.
SOAR: @soar_stellenbosch
Recorded on Friday 16 October 2026.
If nobody at home has done university before, there is no one to ask the small questions. What is a module? How does registration work? Is it normal to feel this lost in week two? This conversation is about who answers those questions, and about the students who found their way without a map.
Jacolette Kloppers hosts the twelfth of 15 conversations on Lunch Club, joined by Dr Joy Petersen from the Centre for Student Life and Learning, together with four SU students: Siphesihle Gama (third year, Computer Science), Tasreeq Goliath (second year, BA Development and Environmental Science), Thabang Ramashia (first year, BA International) and Brandall Swartz (third year, BA International).
What we cover in this episode:
- What a first-generation student actually is: Dr Petersen sets out who the term covers, the specific challenges that come with being the first in your family to reach higher education, and what meaningful support looks like rather than generic encouragement.
- The SOAR journey, start to finish: From the January invitation that arrives before the official welcoming programme, right through to the end of first year. Dr Petersen walks through what a newcomer actually experiences along the way.
- Bringing parents in: How families are drawn into the picture, and why that matters when nobody at home has been through it either.
- Why peer mentoring works: Soundboards and role models, how the mentor system runs across SU residences and student communities, what mentors are responsible for, and the training they receive before they start.
- Does it actually work? Dr Petersen on how the impact of these initiatives is measured, and what students themselves say afterwards.
- Four students, four routes here: Each guest tells their own story – how they chose Stellenbosch and ended up here, what they struggled with, which environments helped and what they would do differently.
- Making the most of campus: What they are involved in beyond lectures, what a full student life has given them, and what they would say to a first-generation student or newcomer starting next year.
Where to find support:
SU website: https://www.su.ac.za/en/students/success – or from the SU homepage, click Students, then Support, then Student Success.
SOAR: @soar_stellenbosch
