ALUMNI NEWS
Tanja Dunat Timms
Ourschool Alumni Program Manager
Alumni help students ‘Launch into Year 9’
As part of their Incursion, ‘Launching into Year 9’, Year 9 students participated in a Q&A with North Geelong Secondary College alumni.
A huge thank you to Sam Balazs (class of 2007), Delta Naw Nyo (2013), Shania Allen (2017) and Locky Wilson (2019) for not only their willingness to participate in the day, but for repeating each session three times over! This was no easy feat, but our alumni did this effortlessly, reporting, allowing them to add any bits they had forgotten each time round!
Year 9 students were given insight into the career choices made by each alum, challenges they have faced and overcome (particularly during Year 9!), what their current working week looks like, and their aspirations for the future.
I explained to the Year 9 students that they wouldn’t necessarily want to follow the same paths as our alumni panellists. My hope was that something spoken about, by the alumni panel, would resonate with them today or into the future.
Locky spoke about the rude awakening he received entering the real estate profession, going straight into sales. With his work being based entirely on commission, he spent the first 6 months essentially working for free. After six, long months, Locky finally sold his first house! During this time, Locky developed perseverance and determination as he showed up each day, not giving up. He realized the importance of networking and leaning on the more experienced for advice. Locky backed himself and invested in professional development (paying for it himself!) and discovered the value of YouTube – it’s amazing what you can learn on this platform!
Locky is currently working towards reaching his goal of selling 25 houses in a year and is well and truly on his way to achieving this!
Sam had a challenging secondary school experience which she openly spoke about with students and subsequently Sam’s pathway was anything but straight! However, her passion for writing, which stemmed from her school years, was ultimately what she ended up pursuing.
Sam studied a year of Journalism but felt stifled by the parameters placed on this style of writing. She transferred into Public Relations and Markets, which was heavily based on literature and creative writing, and has never looked back! Sam now owns her own copywriting business, ‘Witty Wordsmith’, creating content for local and national companies in every industry you can imagine.
Delta, who is currently employed at North Geelong Secondary College as a Multicultural Education Aide, shared with students some of the struggles she has had to overcome in her life. An inspiration, Delta spoke about spending most of her childhood living in a refugee camp, before migrating to Australia as part of the first intake of Karen refugees in Geelong. Delta described herself as ‘hardworking’ rather than ‘smart’ completing a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at La Trobe University, whilst raising her young daughter- I know, amazing!
In addition to working at North Geelong Secondary College, Delta also works as a Karen Language Teacher with the Victorian School of Language and occasionally as an Interpreter in the community. Her work experience has provided her with the realisation that her interest lies in education rather than medicine (the pathway she initially thought she would follow). Delta is hoping to pursue a Diploma of Education to become a teacher.
Shania’s message was clear: It’s okay to not know what you want to do and/or to change your mind - Shania is a testament to this. During secondary school, Shania was certain she would become a nurse. However, after completing a year of nursing, at Federation University, straight out of secondary school, she decided that this wasn’t for her - this is not to say it won’t be in the future.
Shania has completed a traineeship and a certificate III in business at a local engineering firm and has remained working there in an administration role.
Although I knew a bit about each alum going into the session, I can never be certain about the underlying message that will come from each alum telling their story. As this was certainly the case in this instance. The messages that came from our alumni, as always, were insightful and varied.
If you are an alum of North Geelong Secondary College, please get in touch: alumni@ngsc.com.au
