Juanita is top of the UK Mentors

University of Teesside Law graduate Juanita Husbands is the UK’s first Mentor of the Year. The National Mentoring Pilot Project (NMPP) was launched two years ago by the Department for Education and Employment. It involves 1,000 University students across the UK, who mentor pupils aged 12 to 18 on a one-to-one basis.

The student Mentors aim to boost pupils’ self-esteem, help raise achievement and demonstrate that higher education is within their grasp. Juanita has won the first Mentor of the Year competition, held at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She clinched first place in a field of ten UK Universities, gaining a state-of-the art Toshiba Laptop computer and £100 in book tokens. Toshiba are also sponsors of the NMPP.

Juanita, 23, is originally from Bangor, County Down and came to the Middlesbrough-based University from the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, where she achieved ‘A’ levels in English, Politics and History. She joined the Mentoring Project in October 1999, working with pupils from Langbaurgh School, Middlesbrough.

Juanita said: “I felt I was putting something back into the Community by working as a Mentor. The mentoring sessions were held after school and the pupils were interested enough to give up their own time to attend. I felt shocked to win the prize as the top three were announced in reverse order. I’m pleased to win something so special and that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The laptop will also be useful as I’m hoping to start a Masters degree in Law and Computing.”

Helen Pickering, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & External) said: "The University is absolutely delighted with Juanita's success at becoming the UK Mentor of the Year. We are all very proud of our mentoring scheme where our students work with local children to help raise their aspirations and achievement levels. We hope we are encouraging them to stay on at school and go on to higher education. The fact that Juanita successfully combined her mentoring activities with academic work and also being Assistant Manager for a major local fast food outlet shows what an outstanding student she is and we are all very proud of her".

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