For 44 years Carol Race has been helping thousands of people across Teesside to find their direction.
Now the careers advisor, who has spent the last 22 years at Stockton Riverside College and 22 years prior to that working with schools, is retiring from the career she loves.
Looking forward to a hard-earned retirement, she said: “It all feels very surreal at the moment. To leave is a wrench because, like everyone who works in a college, this is a role where you make a real difference to students.”
Hers is a face that will be familiar to many. Working with hundreds of students every year, she offers advice, supports with university applications and shares hints and tips for CVs and interview techniques. She doesn’t have to look far to find people she has supported.
While she admits to not being great with names, it’s the details around the individual’s hopes and ambitions that she remembers most.
For her there’s no better feeling than seeing former students fulfilling their wishes, whether that be building the career of their dreams, securing a place at university or simply gaining employment.
“You get to meet so many different people and hear about their lives,” she said.
And it’s not just the youngsters Carol has supported, as she is also a regular port of call for many adult learners braving a return to the classroom.
She said: “When access to higher education students arrive in September, I say to them that this will be the fastest year of their lives. I see them again at the end of the course, with their university offers and they can’t believe how fast it has gone.”
That is the thing about life in education and life in general, she says, it travels at top speed.
Starting her own career in secretarial roles, it was when the firm she worked for went into liquidation that she applied for a position as an employment assistant. Seconded to train at Edinburgh Napier University her route into careers guidance launched from there.
“I don’t know where the time has gone,” said Carol who after qualifying in 1985 spent two decades delivering careers guidance in schools as part of the Cleveland County Careers Service.
She joined the team at Stockton Riverside College in January 2004 and is now senior careers co-ordinator.
“I don’t think I had any particular expectations when I joined the college, I just got my head down and cracked on,” she said.
Over the 22 years lots has changed but Carol’s commitment to the students has remained resolute – even with student appointments booked for her very last day.
“You always want to do your best for the students and help them find the opportunities they are looking for,” she said.
It is part of the role that she will certainly miss, along with the many colleagues she has worked with along the way.
As a mum and grandmother, for Carol retirement promises more time for the nice things in life including sprucing up the garden, but she said walking away will be tough.
She said: “It’s a cycle in education but I like helping people with their university applications, getting to know the students and just being able to help them gives you a lot of satisfaction.
“It’s the people I work with that I’ll miss most, you spend a lot of time at work and they support you.”
