Before the start of each semester, the Center for STEM Excellence at EKU holds a professional development workshop for undergraduate student partners who will be working as peer mentors, tutors, or learning assistants (LAs) in various centers on campus. Our research focuses on preparing more experienced LAs to facilitate a lesson during this pre-semester PD, which was developed to highlight and provide ideas for implementation of goal-directed learning and scaffolding. We noted that this would be a unique opportunity to gain insights into the preparation of LAs and how their views on mathematical modeling and teaching and learning of mathematics might change as they prepare for and enact this lesson.