PEACE is a student organization dedicated to fostering a cooperative and non-competitive environment at UC Berkeley and to increasing open access to educational resources. We aspire to change the perception of UC Berkeley as a competitive environment such that incoming students aren’t afraid to check UC Berkeley on their college apps; or that college students at UC Berkeley don’t need to look far to find a strong support network.

PEACE also recognizes that students enter college with different levels of an educational background due to a wide variety of factors. As such, PEACE also aspires to bridge these gaps in foundation such that all college students feel safe and able to foster their individual passions.

To address these dual concerns of competitiveness and disparities in education, we offer the following services:

– Free 1-on-1 peer tutoring. To request, click here. 
– Online advising network that answers common questions for all things Berkeley.
– Sample schedules and syllabi for insights into preparing semester and 4-year schedules.
– Practice questions written by PEACE Tutors and Advisors.
– And much, much more! Click here to see it all​.

Hi everyone! My name is Maggie and I’m a third-year student double-majoring in Integrative Biology and Psychology. I joined PEACE for several reasons—namely because I agree with its philosophy. I have found that the benefit of students tutoring other students is that we recognize and understand each other’s struggles, and therefore are able to foster a more personal learning environment. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to education, and PEACE offers a positive and cooperative space in which students can discover how they learn best and gain self-confidence. In addition, I would not be where I am today without the support of my friends, family, and mentors, and I hope to offer the same encouragement to my peers.

Cal has truly become a second home for me, largely because of the meaningful relationships I have formed, often through working with others. When I’m not studying or tutoring, you can find me either hiking, biking, rock climbing, taking art classes, volunteering with kids, or doing research in the Hayes Lab—always with a cup of coffee at hand.

This month’s tutor spotlight is John Park! Since joining PEACE, John has devoted countless hours not only tutoring students, but also contributing unique and insightful ideas that have been instrumental to the growth and development of the organization. This month specifically, he was instrumental in ensuring that both Tutor Development Days ran smoothly and were ultimately useful for the attending tutors. His invaluable suggestions and feedback have been immensely helpful to both individual tutors and the organization as a whole. We’re very grateful to have him as a part of our team, and we hope you can get to know him too. Here’s what he had to say: ​

Looking back the past couple of years, it’s amazing to see how far PEACE has come. One of its core values is camaraderie among tutors and tutees. It has been able to foster a sense of community among its members, allowing them to develop the skills to help make a difference in students’ lives. With each passing semester, we have been able to become a more cohesive unit, driven with the passion to help students succeed in academics.

Currently, we aim to improve our tutoring skills to provide more comprehensive tutoring sessions for our tutees. Even though we thoroughly screen our prospective tutors, we strive for excellence in tutoring. To do so, we have worked together to implement tutor development meetings, which, as the name implies, are designed to hone our tutors’ tutoring skills.

Although it feels as if my time with PEACE is short-lived, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity it has given me to help tutor others. I hope that PEACE can continue to cultivate the relationships between its members and the relationships among tutors and tutees as well. It is an honor to have worked with PEACE since its nascent stages and I look forward to seeing how much more it will achieve as an organization. ​