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Caitlin

Master of Dietetics

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The idea of being responsible for a group of students may be nerve-wracking at first, but becoming a Peer Mentor is such a rewarding experience and is also hugely beneficial for your own personal development.

Being a Peer Mentor

I decided to become a Peer Mentor because I wanted to be able to use everything I learnt over my first year and my enthusiasm for the university and city, to welcome the next cohort of students. I also thought I’d enjoy it as I like interacting with and helping others.

As a Peer Mentor, I encouraged my mentees to take part in an induction period competition. I saw this as a great way to get to know my mentees, while developing teamworking skills as we worked towards a common goal. The competition was a great opportunity to break the ice between myself and my mentees, but also amongst themselves, as many of them had not met one another before. It was nice to see relationships develop and while we worked hard on the project, we all had a laugh together and enjoyed ourselves.

Benefits of being a Peer Mentor

In my role as a Peer Mentor, I have developed my teamworking, communication and leadership skills through leading group discussions, delegating tasks and bringing my mentee group together. I improved my organisation skills by planning and coordinating meetings. I also improved my presentation skills when pitching our idea for the induction period competition to the judging panel and audience.

Being shortlisted and winning one of the prizes was a complete surprise, particularly having spoken to other Peer Mentors and hearing how good their group’s ideas were! – I was so pleased to see my group’s hard work pay off and hopefully, it will inspire others to act and see that taking part in university initiatives can make a huge difference.

To any student thinking about becoming a Peer Mentor, I’d say go for it! The idea of being responsible for a group of students may be nerve-wracking at first, but becoming a Peer Mentor is such a rewarding experience and is also hugely beneficial for your own personal development.