Change the future of young high-potential girls

The ABCN Scholars have had a strong year, the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions meaning that face to face programming can now be resumed.  

Scholars are now three quarters of the way through their academic year having attended both Session 1 and 2 of the Accelerate program.The cohort recently completed theirMid-Year Check-In during which the scholars rated both their engagement with the program and their communication with their mentors incredibly highly.  

Outside of the scheduled Accelerate group sessions our scholars have been meeting regularly with their mentors and attending variety or workplace visits and university open days. Below is a snapshot of some of the businesses who have hosted scholars in the past 6 months: 

• IAG (Insurance) 
• Westpac (Finance) 
• Korn Ferry (Organizational Consulting) 
• WSP (Engineering) 
• PwC (Multiple industries) 

Stockland also recently opened an expression of interest for all scholars interested in Civil Engineering, Surveying, Architecture, Town Planning, Real Estate Sales, or Marketing to attend workplace visitsduring the Term 3 school holidays. Such opportunities are rare for our scholars, and we are extremely grateful to the mentors and their organisations for this exposure to the future world of work.  

Several scholars have gained some insight into tertiary education pathways and options through attending open days with Monash and Melbourne University and some students are participating in the U@UniAcademy at the University of Technology Sydney.  

Scholar Feedback

Our dedicated mentors have been providing extra support for our scholars are they head into the all-important exam period in a few weeks. Below are some quotes from our scholars about the invaluable support their mentors have provided: 

‘I appreciate her ongoing support and advice during our sessions together. I also greatly appreciate her honesty and the authenticity she has shown, which has created a safe and comfortable environment for our growing relationship as mentor and mentee.’– Year 1 Scholar

‘My mentor has been a greet support system for me. I am really comfortable and honest when speaking with her and she is really understandable (sic) and sympathetic to what I have to say. My mentor has been a great listener to me and a person I can reach out to at anytime. She motivates me with my education and inspires me to do better each time we reconnect and speak. We get along really well, and I am so grateful to have met her. I know that even after this beneficial program, we will stay in touch.’ – Year 2 Scholar 

Scholar Spotlight: Year 1 Scholar Narges 

Year 11 student Narges spent just six months learning English at a course in Iran before her familyof fourcame to Australia as refugees.She was the only family member who understood basic English and quickly took on the role of the household’s translator, assisting her mother and her two brothers in the transition into a new country. 

Narges who aims to one day have a career in Lawhas been paired with Employment Lawyer Rachel from Hall & Wilcox, Rachel describes Narges as ‘very brave’. 

‘The ABCN Scholarship and the chance to have a mentor is really important to me as I'm the only child in my family who wants to become a lawyer and no person in my family has gone to university,’ Narges said. 

‘My mother’s only dream is that one of us be available to go to university and choose a perfect pathway because back in Afghanistan, she didn't have any chance of going to school or college, to become someone who she really wished to be.’ 

Links:

• Our Impact
• How you can help
• Why our work is needed

The new school year kicked off with a flurry of school visits in each state to welcome our new scholars and the long-awaited return of our singature event the annual Accelerate Leadership Summit. Both of which required significant agility and organisation due to the ongoing impacts of COVID and flooding emergencies in both NSW and QLD.

First Year Scholars update:

At the end of April the ABCN Foundation was delighted to host the first Accelerate Leadership Summit held face-to-face for almost 3 years in Sydney. On the first day of the summit the scholars enjoyed a visit to the Australian Theatre for Young People where they learnt about confidence, public speaking and communication. 

That evening the scholars attended a spectacular celebration dinner at the Macquarie Group building in the Sydney CBD which served to not only wlecome the 42 new scholars for 2022 but also to celebrate the whole network of ABCN's 46 member companies and 200+ schools. During the evening attendees heard directly from the incredibly inspiring scholars like Danya a Year 11 student from Victoria, whose family arrived in Australia as Sudanese refugees with no English and a couple of suitcases, when Danya was three months old.

“ABCN has given me the opportunity to achieve my goals through mentoring and support. It’s a platform to make sure that many more young people who identify similarly to me see someone who is kicking goals, which they can achieve and go beyond.”

On Day 2 of the summit the scholars experienced a Financial Capability session in the morning and a high energy Leadership session in the afternoon led by Craig Griffin Head of Marketing and Sales for Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services.

Second Year Scholars Update:

Meanwhile our second year scholars set their minds to planning their future with our Goals and Planning sessions alongside their mentors in their home states. During these sessions the scholars worked with the mentors on topics such as early entry to university and what ATAR they are aiming to achieve at the end of Year 12. During the session the scholars also heard from a 3rd Year Scholar and their mentor about how to prepare for the end of Year 12.

At one such session scholar Sydney described the importance of her mentor Sam in shaping her tertiary study choices.

‘How Sam coordinates her team and how she operates as a leader has been really inspiring. Hearing about what she does in the field of engineering has opened my mind up to combining my interest in architecture with engineering as a future pathway. My ideal job would be bringing together a team of architects and engineers to design any sort of infrastructure. I like the idea of applying a combination of creativity and mathematical calculations in my future work.’

Sydney says the ABCN program has changed her in terms of planning for the future. ‘It has encouraged me to plan now for the future so that later there is less stress because we have goals and plans in place and a sense of familiarity with my future pathway,’ she says.  

Links:

• Our Impact
• Why our work is needed
• How you can help