September 8, 2016

Young UOW Student AIMEing High

When Kaitlen Wellington was given the opportunity to study at UOW, she experienced a mix of emotions; she was humbled, grateful, inspired, excited, and nervous, but determined to work as hard as she could to make her family proud.

"The expectation for a lot of Indigenous students who come from a social disadvantage background was that you’d drop out of school at the end of year 10," Kaitlen says.

That definitely was not the case for this ambitious young woman. Not only is she the first in her family to attend university, but she has also taken on a double degree in Arts and International Studies at UOW.

“I was lucky enough to have great teachers at high school and I also got involved with AIME [the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience]. They taught me that an education was really important,” says Kaitlen, who grew up in the Jerrinia Aboriginal Community at, Orient Point, near Nowra on the South Coast.

The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is transforming the lives of thousands of Aboriginal teenagers. 

The program supports Indigenous students through high school and into university, employment, or further education. 

Since AIME began at UOW in 2008, it has dramatically improved the chances of Indigenous youth finishing school and providing them with the skills, opportunities, belief and confidence to grow and succeed. 

In 2016, AIME, in partnership with 18 Australian universities, will connect about 6000 students with 1800 mentors. 

Kaitlen says young people are always asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ She flicks back her long black hair as she points out that this is the wrong question. 

“We should be asking them, ‘ Why do you want to succeed? How are you going to make this world a better place? Who are you doing this for? What drives you?’” says Kaitlen, who as a child was exposed to disadvantage in her community. 

“I’m here at university for my family, I’m doing this for the powerless, the poor, the homeless, people from domestic violence backgrounds, people addicted to drugs and alcohol, the mentally ill, I’m talking about all people from disadvantage backgrounds.”

Now six months into her study, Kaitlen says one of the hardest things she encountered when transitioning to university was making the move away from her coastal home, her family and the lifestyle she had always known.

“When I do go home, the hardest thing is seeing my family really struggling. It’s hard in way, but it does bring me back down to earth. Going to uni has given me the opportunity of a lifetime. And I’m going to use it to my advantage.”

At the start of every academic year thousands of students wander the campus, exposed to a world outside their comfort zone. Many, like Kaitlen, are the first in their families to go to university. 

First-generation students can face a number of challenges in attending university; moving away from the life they’ve known, struggling to fit in with fellow students, and, for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, being exposed to students from more affluent socio-economic upbringings. For Indigenous students, this can be compounded by the lack of connection to land and the prospect of leaving a tight-knit community to study in a city. 

Kaitlen is familiar with these challenges, of being caught between two worlds and feeling a sense of “otherness”. 

“When I moved to Wollongong it was tough and it took a while for me to adapt. Coming from a small town and as part of my indigenous culture we naturally have a spiritual connection to the land we come from. I love my land and ocean along the south coast and to be removed from it and placed in a city was disorienting. However, in the long run I did find a support network with AIME and at the Woolyungah Centre. They are there to help and support indigenous students to succeed and do their best through their uni degree," explains Kaitlen. 

Despite the difficult start Kaitlen is inspired to forge ahead and seize the opportunities provided by her time at UOW. 

In between lectures and study, she has become a mentor with AIME. It gives her the opportunity to talk to school students about her path to university and the possibilities that life presents when you work hard and refuse to see obstacles as roadblocks. 

“I think it’s important for young Indigenous people to see people overcoming hurdles to achieve their goals,” Kaitlen says.

She does not yet know what she wants to do when she graduates from university, but Kaitlen says she has many dreams she would like to pursue.

“I like to keep all my options open,” Kaitlen says. “On one side I’m thinking about a life in politics, on the other, I’d like to learn more about my Indigenous culture and maybe be a novelist or playwright.”