Paying it forward

Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Medical Science student Cathleen Phimdert is a U @Uni equity ambassador working with high school students in Sydney’s southwest. She met Anthony Ladewig through the program when he was a student at Fairfield High School. Ladewig earned a place in UTS’s Bachelor of Engineering this year and is now helping build aspiration in other students from under-represented communities.

Cathleen Phimdert

When the opportunity came up to become a mentor and help students from southwest Sydney, I thought, ‘Yep, I definitely want to jump on board for this!’ As part of the HSC Tutorial Scheme I’ve been tutoring and facilitating groups out at Fairfield, Canley Vale, Bankstown and Belmore. We work one-on-one and in small groups with students in Years 11 and 12 to give them help with exam preparation, essay writing, homework tasks and assignments. We also act as positive mentors for them and provide insight into what university life is like.

Each school is different, and some students struggle to grasp the concepts they’re being taught. It’s not that the students don’t want to learn, but they don’t often get the time and attention they need to go through it more thoroughly. We’re just reinforcing what the teachers are teaching and going through it on a level they understand.

It wasn’t until I came to uni that I realised there was a bit of a stigma around western Sydney. I grew up around Miller’s Point and attended St Johns Park High School in Greenfield Park. There really wasn’t that much of a difference between the two areas in terms of ability. Any ‘disadvantage’ is more of a self-perception ingrained in the minds of students based on what’s reported in the news. Sure, there are disadvantages in terms of language barriers and financial situations, but the students have the same willingness to learn. All they need is the opportunity and some support.

I graduated in 2011, and a lot of the high school students are surprised to find out I’m so close to their own age group. I think it helps them to relate and trust me. I did the same subjects I’m tutoring in and I’m able to explain the theory in a more digestible way. The sessions are less formal than a normal class, but the students get a lot out of it. One term, I recognised my biology students were flat lining and had lost motivation and enthusiasm. So we came up with a biology game that was a mix between Pictionary and Taboo and played that for an hour and a half. The following week their enthusiasm was back up. You need to find ways to keep it interesting.

At first Anthony was pretty quiet and reluctant to do the writing. I tutored him in English Advanced for two terms. He was creative and good at the actual content, but he wrote too slowly. By practising the flow of his essays, he began to improve and he could see clearly how they needed to be structured to bring his ideas into line in the allocated time. His essays used to be about a page and a half, but by the end he could easily write two to three pages.

Going back to high school to tutor is a bit of a flipped role. As well as helping students, we’re developing our own skills around communicating effectively, problem-solving, critical thinking, time management and leadership. They’re all attributes that will transfer well into a workplace when we graduate.

Anthony Ladewig

A lot of high school kids don’t get the opportunity to come into the city, let alone visit a university.  For a lot of them, university isn’t even an option they’d think about. I remember coming onto campus for the Summer School program and meeting a lot of students from other high schools in my area. I didn’t expect them to be so similar to me and my mates. The science summer class I did for the two weeks in Year 11 had only one other person from my school, so we were forced to mix. It was really good.

I was lucky enough to be selected for the HSC Tutorial Scheme in Year 12. With Cathleen, the tutoring sessions were definitely fun and engaging – she created a less serious atmosphere and made us feel at ease. She would empathise and explain things in simpler terms than my English teachers would, and she was straight to the point whenever I had a question. As a result, my essay writing skills developed greatly and I went to the HSC English exam stress-free. Cathleen also made university sound so interesting and not as hard or scary as I thought.

Many students wouldn’t even consider university as a realistic option. TAFE always sounded easier for some reason, but once you’re exposed to university life, you realise it’s doable. Summer School and the reunion days afterwards helped us figure out which way we wanted our lives to go and which pathway to pursue. It’s such a big decision to make at a young age, but it gets you thinking. I was initially interested in science but realised I like understanding how things work, so I was drawn to engineering instead.

So far my first year studying engineering has been full-on. It’s only been one semester and I’ve had more assignments than I would have had by this time in high school. But I’ve enjoyed working on team projects and being introduced to interesting engineering concepts. The social part of uni is fun too – coming into the city and meeting with friends on the weekdays – however you really need to balance it with getting your coursework done.

After my last Summer School reunion I actually felt sad that it had come to an end–so this year I’m working as an equity ambassador. It’s an opportunity to give something back and to improve my communication and leadership skills. I help run the Summer School reunion workshops on managing the HSC and setting future goals, and provide insight to students wanting to know more about university. As a recent ex-high school student I can definitely empathise with how they’re feeling. Even if they don’t want to go to university, I hope I’m helping them decide on their future path.