Former Worth student awarded MBE for services to teenage education

Lucy Whitehouse, who was among the first cohort of girl students at Worth, is absolutely thrilled to have been honoured with an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours for her services to teenage education.

In 2016 Lucy set up Fumble, an award-winning youth charity with a mission to provide young people with the skills and knowledge to successfully manage their relationships, sexual and mental health.

A member of St Mary’s House while she was at Worth, Lucy left in 2010 and went on to study English at the University of York, followed by a Masters in Translation Research at UCL. This led to a job in journalism as the editor of a leading trade publication for the beauty and personal care industry.

Lucy was actively involved in Identity magazine while at Worth and believes her work on that magazine was a great grounding in journalism and media that has influenced her career to date.

Lucy’s interest in young people’s mental health deepened when she joined and created a digital campaign for the charity YoungMinds. This led to her founding Fumble. With young people turning to the internet with questions but accessing a lot of unhealthy content, Fumble’s aim is to redress the balance and offer an alternative and reliable voice in the digital world.

She said: “The challenges facing young people growing up in a digital age were definitely evident when I was at Worth. We were the first generation to grow up with life online – we had intranet, email and iTunes, and that was tricky enough to navigate. Today’s young people have Tiktok and predatory algorithms – they need support to navigate it all. That’s where Fumble comes in.”

Lucy is now a leading voice in her field having written comment pieces for major national publications and appeared on BBC News and Times Radio. She loves running Fumble and said: “It’s creative, challenging, impactful and busy and I’m really proud of how far we have come.”

Of her time at Worth, Lucy added: “I loved volunteering while at Worth, it definitely fostered my enthusiasm for nonprofit work that supports others and builds community. I remember fondly the weekly trips to visit residents in local care homes on a Wednesday afternoon; my work supporting the green ‘Eco-Worth’ efforts; and Fr Peter as the quietly dedicated figure behind it all.”

Many congratulations Lucy, we are proud of your success.

Worth Society is the School’s thriving alumni association that enables former pupils and staff to stay in touch with one another for business and social networking purposes, providing careers advice, support and lifelong guidance.

Worth likes to keep in touch with former students and regularly runs stories about their progress.

Read more about Worth Society here.