This week, her son, Orlando Tuhega-Vaitupu, a pupil at King’s High School in Dunedin, will receive the same honour and the first thought that ran through her head reminded her of old times.
"Oh my goodness, Orlando is going to meet the prime minister."
The annual Otago Daily Times Class Act award is given to high school pupils around the region who have been recognised for excellence.
Many pairs of siblings have taken away the prize, but never before has there been a parent-and-child duo.
Ms Tuhega was 17 and at Bayfield High School when she won the award, the first time the event was held.
Now at 39 she has three children, teaches te reo Maori at Taieri College and has led a successful career on the rugby pitch.
A lot has happened between then and now.
At the time of her award, she told the Otago Daily Times she wanted to represent New Zealand in basketball, but when university came around she no longer had time to juggle rugby, basketball and softball.
In the end she decided to focus on rugby, a decision she did not regret, she said.
She played more than 50 games for the Otago Spirit and more than 100 for Pirates Wahine.
Her other goal for the future was to become a physical education teacher, which she was proud to have done despite some obstacles along the way.
During university, when she was 21 years old, she gave birth to Orlando.
She successfully juggled her education with motherhood and graduated in 2006.
By the time she attended teachers’ college she had a second son, whom she frequently took to classes.
Soon after graduating, she began her career as a health and PE teacher at Taieri College.
She married her husband in 2011 and had her third child.
She continued with rugby into her 30s, but realised she was missing her children’s matches to play her own, which did not feel right.
At the time, Ms Tuhega said her greatest achievement was being named in the under-18 basketball finals in 1999.
Now her three children claimed that spot, she said.
At 17, she listed the Black Ferns as her role models, a belief she still held to this day.
She believed the girl she had been in 2000 would be very proud of who she was today.
Orlando said his mother had been an inspiration to him and it was an honour to be receiving the same award as her.
