Community Service

Brittany Duce (Peer 2013) - Royal Children's Hospital and Vanuatu Paramedic Service

After finishing Year 12 in 2013 I went straight into studying a Bachelor of Paramedicine at ACU in Melbourne, graduating this year.

I was very fortunate to take a gap year in my second year of study to travel around Europe for three months, which I thoroughly enjoyed and was an amazing experience.

Currently I am working full time for the non-emergency ambulance service here in Melbourne. It's always great when my past class-mate Ellen Massuger is working in her role as a nurse and we run into one another.

Community/Charity Work

Starting with St John Ambulance (Ellen M and I did this together) whilst still at School, I have continued to be involved in community work and volunteering.

For the past two years I have been volunteering every fortnight at the Royal Children's Hospital in the emergency department. This can sometimes be quite confronting but also very rewarding and I particularly like spending time with the babies when I get a chance.

Recently a friend and I went to Vanuatu to volunteer with ProMedical which is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Victorian paramedics in Vanuatu to provide affordable advanced lifesaving support in an emergency to tourists and also locals. They rely on paramedic volunteers to assist with training local student paramedics and to provide lifesaving care to patients in need.

We attended traumatic jobs with limited equipment and medication options and this posed great difficulty. The hospital supplies are quite limited and often patients have to be flown elsewhere if they are in need of long-term medical assistance.

Treating patients with limited English taught me more about communication and I also learnt some of the local language Bislama.

We taught the local student paramedics basic and advanced life support skills. I found the locals extremely stoic and they would only utilise the service when absolutely necessary.

There are many poor remote villages with no roads, electricity or water.  On occasion if we didn't have the luxury of equipment we take for granted here in Australia we would have to make do and improvise with what was at hand.

Kilvington taught me a lot about community and giving back. I'm very pleased to be doing this where and when I can.

Elizabeth Hu - Dux 2016

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I graduated Kilvington as Dux in 2016, and I’m a second-year Melbourne University student studying Bachelor of Biomedicine, majoring in anatomy and neuroscience. Although I may seem an academic-focused student, what actually drives and motivates me in life is my volunteering experiences. To be honest, I am not much older or wiser than the students currently at Kilvington, and I have only started venturing into adult life, but I hope I can offer a little inspiration to everyone through my experiences.

What year did you finish at Kilvington?

2016

What is your favourite memory of Kilvington?

My favourite (albeit rather touching) memory is on the second day of Year 7 when Mrs Lehman climbed into a dump truck bin in her high heels to retrieve my laptop charger, whilst I watched in tears because I had stupidly thrown it out with the packaging.

What happened after you left Kilvington?

I’m studying Bachelor of Biomedicine at The University of Melbourne and will be in third year in 2019.  Although a demanding course with intense study demands and hours, during these two years I have dedicated my spare time into doing volunteering and charity work, including starting up a not-for-profit, playing within and managing a charity orchestra, volunteering weekly at the Royal Children’s hospital, and volunteer tutoring for disadvantaged VCE students.

Did you end up where you expected you would when you finished school?

I have definitely changed direction in what I want to do in the future! I graduated Year 12 thinking I would like to do bioengineering, but now I would like to pursue medicine in my postgraduate studies. With the skills of a doctor, I feel like I can assist more people, opening up the potential for charity work in the healthcare field both domestically and internationally.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve had to face to get where you are now?

Throughout my times at Kilvington, I felt that there was no challenge that I couldn’t face due to the overwhelming support of my peers, teachers, and just the incredible family environment. However, at university I would sometimes be too harsh on myself, and then feel disappointed when I did not achieve my perfectionist expectations. Looking back, I realised that we should all give ourselves the love we deserve, and devote our time in not castigating our imperfections, but rather work to become a better individual.

What advice would you give to others who might be faced with similar obstacles?

Always remember that no one can be as good as being you. We are all so unique and incredible, each having our own strengths and talents. Our existence and actions are shaping the future, and we should live life with direction and confidence, loving ourselves and others with every single day.

What has been your biggest highlight so far?

This year, I launched my very own charity, named Folding Our Futures. Folding Our Futures is an innovative non-for-profit dedicated to inspiring the next generation of change makers in society. Although in its infancy, Folding Our Futures aims to deliver youth leadership workshops to spark conversation and action for achievable community projects within secondary school aged-students. 

What excites you about the future?

The sheer potential of the future excites me, as my journey has just begun. There are so many things I can achieve and infinite things I can do, and I look forward to every step of my future. Kilvington has been the family that raised me and has given me the tools I need for a fulfilling life ahead.

How did what you learnt at Kilvington help make you the person you are today?

I came into Year 7 as a shy and quiet individual with no direction in life. With the support and care of the School environment, I discovered confidence, empathy, and a drive to care for others.

Kilvington has not only raised me as a strong academic student, but also a person of community and character. I’m grateful for my cohort, my friends, my teachers, and the greater Kilvington community for all their support and love.  As cheesy as it sounds, I would like to live life representing the school motto “Not for our own, but others’ good”, utilising my skills to bring about a better future.

Any advice for our current Year 12 students as they embark on the next phase of their journey?

As a recent graduate, I understand the confusion and tentativeness that often comes with entering life after high school. My best advice is to keep your options and mind open for opportunities. We are capable of becoming and achieving anything, and the onus is on us to pursue our dreams and make the most of our time here.

Folding our Futuresis a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to transforming the lives of disadvantaged young Aussie students. Proceeds are gathered through the sale of beautiful origami creations that are generously provided by volunteer creators.