With two courses in management under their belts, some Wharton sophomores are invited to put their skills to the test - by managing their own classrooms.
Management 100 team advisors, unlike traditional teaching assistants, are educators, facilitators, mentors, fans, even friends, all at once.
Launched in 1993, the Management 100 program originally invited both MBA students and undergraduates to serve as TAs, according to Wharton director of undergraduate leadership programs Anne Greenhalgh, one of the program's founders.
Within two years, however, the program was revised to accept undergraduate candidates only, who were more popular than their graduate school counterparts, she said.
Wharton senior Kyle Goldman, one the program's nine executive TAs last semester, explained why the peer-teaching-peer system works.
"On an academic level, [undergraduate TAs] understand the course, since we took the class and understand what students are thinking," he said. "On the peer advising level, we're college students just like them, so we can act as older mentors that have gone through the process."
Examples of recitation activities include feedback sessions, in which students critique their peers on measures of teamwork, leadership and communication skills, and impromptu public speaking exercises, which are followed by constructive criticism, Goldman said.
Still, one of the most difficult aspects of being a TA is striking a balance between teacher and peer, especially since the role requires involvement in the grading process, he said. In his more casual role, Goldman has taken his Management 100 teams bowling, out to dinner and to Pat's and Gino's.
The memories, formed both in and out of the classroom, are what motivate many Management 100 students to join the ranks of their TAs.
Wharton sophomore and current Management 100 TA Shawn Woodhull is one example.
After an illness forced him to spend New Student Orientation and the first week of classes in the hospital, Woodhull said his Management 100 TA was crucial in easing the transition.
"My TA went above and beyond to help me reintegrate into school when I got back," Woodhull said. He added that he wanted to do for other students what his TA did for him.
Last year, 120 students - over one-fifth of the Wharton freshman class - applied for the program's 54 fall positions. TA applications for next fall are due on Feb. 5.
Wharton freshman Alex Snow agreed that the peer advising role is valuable to students: "With all the TAs in the section, it's really nice to have older people to help you with jobs, classes and internships, any time you want."
Greenhalgh said the TA role is paramount to the community at large. "The Management 101 TA, especially in the role of peer advisor, is the heart of Wharton."
