By Rachel Walker | Head of Foundation
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:
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.’
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