This session will examine how peer feedback can be a powerful tool for upholding high academic and professional standards while actively promoting learner growth in pre-clerkship and early professional education. Instead of seeing rigor and learner support as opposing priorities, the session will reframe them as mutually supportive objectives that can be intentionally aligned through effective feedback practices. Based on evidence from health professions education, the session will demonstrate how structured, constructive peer feedback enhances accountability, professionalism, and self-awareness – competencies that are challenging to evaluate through traditional exams and faculty observation alone.