1) The role of teaching assistant is not only to help the director and facilitate the program, but also plays an important role in helping students. But more importantly, they play an important role for students, because while students face the daunting task of the social action project, they also face the problem of adjusting to being away from home, taking college-level courses, and finding the their place at the American College. University. The TA is someone they know they can turn to with questions and concerns, someone who has been through the same experience as them. I have personally dealt with these issues and can provide advice and insights to offer to incoming freshmen. In addition to helping students with their lives outside of the program, within the program it is the TA's job to use their experience with the program to silently guide students in the best direction for their social action projects. They do not lead the group, but rather intervene when problems may arise or offer guidance when requested. It is solely up to the students to successfully prepare and implement the project, but they cannot navigate the world of working with professionals and writing project proposals without someone helping them along the way. To ensure the greatest success of the project, the role of the TA is to help overcome any obstacles along the way. In terms of the program as a whole, TAs represent another aspect of what the program director does. Professor Marr can't do all the work herself and the TAs are there to help the program run smoothly. This means facilitating small group discussions in class, planning retreat, and helping to plan the lesson and answer questions that students may feel uncomfortable asking a professor, a… middle of paper… and working with these types of professionals and develop a project of this size, so I think some introduction on how to meet professionals, what to bring and wear to meetings, and where to look when trying to work with organizations or find a project would be incredibly helpful to the program as a whole together and to the success of the projects. Instead of failed meetings, trying to guess how to present the program and project, perhaps a lesson plan can include some helpful tips and information on effective techniques for presenting specific programs. Additionally, the TA can offer some of this information as the project progresses. I still believe that students should take full control of the projects, as for now the program allows it, but from experience, a little more guidance and useful information included in the program would allow for more successful projects.