Help is on the way for incoming freshmen in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Next semester, The Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council (LAUC) is revamping its peer-mentoring program after a two-year hiatus, Rebecca Rebstock, LAUC treasurer, said.

"This is a good opportunity for freshmen to have someone to help them out," LAUC secretary Lindsay Sheaffer said.

The program began in fall 2003, but only lasted a year because LAUC had trouble recruiting upperclassmen to be peer mentors, and the number of people on staff was low, Rebstock said.

"The biggest issue is finding the upperclassmen, not the freshmen," she added.

Zach Pranckun, vice president for LAUC, said that this time around, there are already several interested upper-classmen, so they decided to start the peer-mentoring program once again.

The College of the Liberal Arts is joining other colleges that have already developed peer-mentoring programs, such as the Smeal College of Business Administration, the College of Communications, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering, and the College of Health and Human Development.

This year, the council is rewriting some requirements for the mentors, such as making the duties more formal instead of easy-going, said Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly College of the Liberal Arts Rep. Nicole Belolan.

"The idea is to get the freshmen to get to know upperclassmen and upperclassmen to get to know freshmen," she said.

Sheaffer said peer mentors will be encouraged to take freshmen to an ice cream social at the beginning of the semester, a high-level class to help students get a taste of the majors and attend Liberal Arts-related events to get used to the University Park environment.

"It doesn't just give a better idea of a certain major but also a better sense of the College of the Liberal Arts," Belolan said.

She added that the peer mentors will be inside sources and freshmen can use them to ask any questions.

"If I would have known about it as a freshman, I would have taken advantage of it," said Pranckun, who is applying to be a peer mentor next semester.

To become a mentor, Rebstock said sophomores and juniors can pick up and drop off applications at 138 Sparks, or an application is available on the LAUC Web site, www.clubs.psu.edu/LAUC. Applications are due April 1.

Belolan said that the LAUC is planning on promoting its peer mentoring program for freshman through the First-Year Testing, Counseling and Advising Program (FTCAP), advising e-mail list and the college welcoming meeting.

The College of the Liberal Arts advisers will randomly match up freshman to a peer mentor at the beginning of the fall 2005 semester using FTCAP, Rebstock said.

Sheaffer said participating in the program would look good on juniors' and seniors' resumes or graduate school applications.

"LAUC is part of our mission to provide service and we feel strongly about this," she said.