The Health and Wellness Peer Education program was established on the Murray State University campus during the Fall 2016 semester. The purpose of this program is to empower and engage the campus community through outreach and advocacy to help make Murray State a healthier and safer environment for all students. The National Peer Educator Study (2011) found numerous benefits to having peer educator programs on college campuses. One of those benefits is that undergraduate peers are the single most potent source of influence on undergraduate student\u27s affective and cognitive growth and development. Students often feel more comfortable when learning and talking with peers in comparison to faculty. By training peer educators to discuss health behaviors of concerns like alcohol use, sexual assaults, and domestic violence, this creates a safer environment with more open dialogue on these health behaviors for the students on campus. The Murray State University Peer Educators, since the formation in 2016, have presented one campus-wide program, Safe Spring Break Event, and are on the path to host a second, Great American Smokeout Event, in November 2017. The initial campus wide program, Safe Spring Break, had an impact size of about 900, about 100 active participants and 800 passive participants
