Congratulations to the 2024 Students Helping Students Awards winners!
Deakin is proud to celebrate the outstanding contributions of our student peer mentors through the 2024 Students Helping Students (SHS) Awards.
What is Students Helping Students?
Students Helping Students (SHS) is an initiative that integrates all of Deakin’s peer mentoring programs. It connects students with experienced peers who offer support in academic, social, and personal areas. Whether students need guidance with their assignments, effective study strategies, or adjusting to university life, SHS fosters a collaborative environment where students can learn from each other, build confidence, and form lasting connections.
‘Mentoring is dynamic and has provided me with valuable opportunities for personal growth as a learner. I have honed my communication skills, further developed my leadership abilities, learned patience, and embraced the continuous pursuit of knowledge. Mentoring has shown me that growth is reciprocal – I have learned as much from my mentees as they have from me, making this journey a truly enriching experience for all,’ said 2024 SHS Emerging Award recipient Maheen Irfan.
Muskan Goyal, a 2024 SHS Senior Award recipient, said of her time as a mentor, ‘As a mentor, my role has involved not just providing advice but also helping mentees identify areas for growth, offering constructive feedback and aiding in the development of critical skills. Mentoring has allowed me to give back by sharing my knowledge and experiences, helping others avoid common pitfalls, and celebrating their successes. This role has reinforced my own understanding and skills, … and guiding others has often deepened my learning. It has also cultivated my empathy, patience, and leadership abilities, as it requires understanding things from another’s perspective and challenging them to think differently’.
The 2024 Awards
The SHS Awards offer mentors a chance to reflect on their mentoring experiences and the deeper learning they’ve gained along the way. These awards aren’t just about recognition, student engagement, or belonging (though these are key aspects of mentoring); they are about the learning that happens throughout the mentoring experience. This informal learning unfolds over time through peer support programs and helps shape both mentors and their mentees. The awards guide mentors to reflect on, examine, and articulate what they’ve learned – not just by listing activities but by exploring and reflecting on their growth and how it has impacted their mentees and the programs they work in.
To the 2024 SHS Award recipients: congratulations! Your dedication to supporting and growing alongside your mentees has made a significant impact on the Deakin community.
Award recipients
We are very pleased to announce this year’s 2024 Students Helping Students Awards Recipients:
Emerging Award recipients: Alexandria Keen; Anisha Mira Menezes; Cheryl Avila; Maheen Irfan; Stephanie Willingham; Tayyiba Rahman
Experienced Award recipients: Supraja Sayee Srinivasan; Veronica Chintapalli
Senior Award recipients: Bhavya Bagaria; Juliet Bao Ngoc Doling; Karuna Santosa; Muskan Goyal; William Cook
Judy Currey, Chair of the Academic Board says, ‘Congratulations to all our award recipients. Deakin’s SHS programs offer valued guidance, build a sense of belonging and deliver rewards to all the students involved. I invite all students to consider being involved in our programs’.
Learn more about student peer mentoring
If you want to benefit from the mentoring experience, or become a mentor yourself, visit the Peer mentoring website to learn more. You never know who you might meet, what you might learn and how you might grow!