As an Honors student involved with multiple campus organizations, Jael Rodriguez might seem like the last student who would seek outside academic help. But with so many commitments to juggle, she realized she needed to develop additional time management skills. With assistance from Roosevelt University’s Learning Commons, Jael can manage her academic calendar and maintain her strong advocacy for immigrant rights.
“You realize that time management and organizing your approach to class is just as important as academic skills and knowledge,” she says. “The Learning Commons helped me meet other students who were working on those skills or had already gone through the experience of those classes. It made me feel like I wasn’t struggling alone.”
Jael, a Digital Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations major, hopes to work in political campaigns after graduating in 2027. At Roosevelt, she is already building those skills through leadership roles like serving as media and communications chair for the student group United We Dream. Even with her drive and strong work ethic, she sometimes needs extra support. Services like the Learning Commons give students free help with challenges both in and out of the classroom.
The Learning Commons offers resources like disability services and peer tutoring from fellow students and trained professionals to help Roosevelt students reach their academic goals. The University’s Peer Success Coach program pairs trained coaches with inquiring students who seek guidance on time management or developing new study skills. Any Roosevelt student can simply apply for an appointment and meet with their peer success coach over Zoom or in-person, and they can develop a rapport over the course of the semester or even years.
“Joining the program has been amazing,” says Jael. “I first registered for a peer success coach when I was taking an Honors course focused on writing tutor training. We had to shadow writing tutors, take notes and develop our own teaching style. It was very rewarding but very time-intensive, so when I approached the Learning Commons for some additional assistance, they immediately partnered me with people who could advance my ability to balance classwork with what I wanted to also get involved with on campus.”
Jael’s assigned peer success coach was Sia Batra, an Industrial Organizational Psychology graduate student who used her natural interest in time management to help Jael balance her assignments and while maintaining her interest in pollical campaigning. The pair would meet weekly to write study schedules and develop mandatory relaxation times, and the two have become friends beyond the confines of the Learning Commons.
“Sia has already gone through her undergraduate experience and can relate to the stress I go through during finals or for a particular assignment,” Jael says. “I’m so fortunate that I was able to join this program for free and that I have the opportunity for fellow students to guide me through the Peer Success Coach Program.”
With her schedule balanced, Jael can now dedicate more effort to her passion for immigrant rights and one of Roosevelt’s newest student organizations: United We Dream. Chartered in the fall of 2025, the group was established to help undocumented students and children of undocumented immigrants exchange resources and develop community though shared experiences. Jael, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park but whose parents are Mexican immigrants, is heartened by Roosevelt’s support for the group.
“Roosevelt prides itself on social justice and allowing everyone to feel welcome,” Jael says. “Immigrants from around the world make America and the city of Chicago the incredible place it is, and Roosevelt honoring the perspectives of immigrants and undocumented immigrants speaks to their integrity as an institution.”
Thanks to assistance from the Learning Commons and social justice support from the Roosevelt administration, Jael is prepared for success during her senior year and beyond.
