Girton Welcomes Back Alumni for STRIVE

We were pleased to have a group of former students return to Girton on Wednesday 24th March to share their experience of Year 12 and now, their University experience. 

With former students studying a wide variety of courses from Law, Arts and Science to Property, Politics and Theatre Studies it was a great opportunity for our current students to gain some first-hand knowledge of things to come.

The Old Girtonians spoke of their subject and study experiences and the pitfalls of the VCE and exams. They gave great insight into their individual University experiences and how they coped with moving to Melbourne, Geelong or how things have changed for them remaining in Bendigo.

We were pleased to see the consistent theme that came up from our Old Girtonians; appreciate the teachers you have now as you will not receive this level of support when you leave Girton.

We would like to thank Aliya Noonan, Harry Brakha, Danai-Prince Mahachi, Scarlett Bischoff, Tom Millar, Eliza Griffiths, Lily Townsend and Charlie Wardrop for giving up their time and inspiring our Year 12 students. 

In July, it was great to again see our former students return to Girton to talk to our current Year 12 group.  Thank you to Tadi Masiboy (Biomedicine/ Medicine Latrobe University), Jessica Iliano (Engineering RMIT University), Gracie Sladen (Architecture) and Sam Garrity (about to start Youth work at Latrobe University) who volunteered their time to share their experiences with current students.

The speakers have had to work through the complexities of COVID-19 lockdowns as they navigated their way through their new learning experiences and their insights made for a fascinating story. All were very disappointed at not being able to attend full time and felt they had missed out on making great connections at University.

Each student had found their own pathway into University, with Sam taking some time off study before discovering youth work and enrolling at Latrobe University as a non-year 12 applicant. Our current students were given great insight into the VCE Exams, the stresses they may face and the application process for University.

While we heard of a variety of experiences, our former students had a common theme. Be kind to yourself and look after your health during the year. Make sure at the end of the year you can say “I gave it my best shot”. However, Sam had a very important message for the group. “There is always another way to get where you want to be if you are willing to persist and work at it. Your ATAR score will not define you.”