S.E.A.L.S. is a student-run organization with a mission to educate, motivate and empower fellow students to make responsible decisions when it comes to wellness and physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual health.S.E.A.L.S. is an acronym for Student Educators and Leaders.

S.E.A.L.S. was formerly called the Peer Education Program (P.E.P.) until this semester.

“The whole goal of changing our name was to put a new energy and a new focus for the peer education program on our campus,” Angie Pitre Simmons, Nicholls S.E.A.L.S. coordinator, said. “In my opinion it had so much more to offer than some of the things that were being offered before. Not that there weren’t some great things, because they did some fantastic things; I just think there’s more to it.”

“I must say that the new name (SEALS) is not only more appealing, but it also represents our mission as a student organization.” “Just like our troops wear army tags, the NSU Student Educators and Leaders wear their ‘seals’ and act as role models by teaching and volunteering to make the community of NSU a success,” Kali Boudreaux, secondary education junior from Raceland and S.E.A.L.S. vice president, said.

The S.E.A.L.S. main objective for this semester is to organize the program and be recognized as an entity on campus.

“I’m hoping to gain more student participation at NSU through S.E.A.L.S. by involving more students; I’m only hoping that we can make a difference and encourage students to achieve success by being themselves,” Boudreaux said.

Its second objective is to create a pals program. The pals program will be an outreach for visiting students to make sure that they have the opportunity to pal up with someone and get oriented to the University. The program will be an aid to help visiting students have an easy transition to Nicholls and know all of the services that are offered to them, Simmons says.

A mass E-mail will be sent to all visiting students regarding the pals program.

Additionally, S.E.A.L.S. will put on programs for the coming semester on health and wellness issues as well as interpersonal relationship issues.

The organization currently has around 30 members, and anybody is welcome to join. There will be recruitment flyers posted around campus.

Meetings will probably be on a weekly basis.

The organization has teams that focus on substance abuse, conflict resolution, sexual assault, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, drinking and driving and date rape.