The Waite Peer Mentor program has two new Senior Peer Mentors! Jessie Caines and Lucas Allen are both 3rd year Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology students who joined the peer mentor program in 2018. They were instrumental in carrying on the work of previous peer mentors and running events to support the student cohort at Waite.
The Waite Peer Mentor program started in 2018 and has grown each year with more events for the student community being added. The aim of the program is to provide informal support for all students by students. The program is a way for students in all Waite based degree programs and across all year levels to get to know each other and and support each other through the ups and downs of uni life.
The program offers significant benefits for both mentors and mentees. One of the peer mentors last year said: “Being a peer mentor has given me the chance to help other students. But it has also allowed me to be a part of a body of students that have changed the culture of our campus by creating more opportunities for students to network and enhance their student experience.”
The peer mentors can be found hanging our in the Hub (always wearing their bright pink vests to make sure they stand out!) at lunchtimes and always have plenty of snacks, a welcome smile and lots of good advice about how to thrive at uni.
Lucas and Jessie have exciting ideas for peer mentor events for 2020 including a welcome to Waite BBQ and a first-year get to know you wine tasting event. Lucas said: “I’m looking forward to giving the newcomers to Waite Campus all the opportunities that peer mentoring affored me last year!”
Jessie really valued the peer mentors last year and now wants to give back, she commented: “Knowing that there is help and support for academic needs or just someone to hear how tricky uni life can be sometimes is a resource that the students are grateful for. As Peer mentors, we get it, we have been there and we have gone through it.”
Lucas (top, far right) cooking up a couple of hundred sausages for the first year students, while Jessie (bottom, far right) makes sure they have all the condiments they need! All the peer mentors make light work of feeding all the first year students.
