Important Dates

Saturday 1 April to Sunday 2 April
Career Expo
10.00am - 4.00pm
Adelaide Convention Centre – free entry

Representatives from local and interstate universities will be in attendance (including James Cook University, Monash, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and Bond University, to name a few). Students are encouraged to visit the Convention Centre on Sunday.

Tuesday 4 April
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
8.00am to 9.00am
The Chrysalis

Tuesday 4 April
James Cook University (JCU)
10.30am to 10.50am
Clarnette Meeting Room

Tuesday 4 April
Bond University
1.05pm to 1.50pm
M7

Wednesday 5 April
The University of Melbourne
8.15am to 9.00am – General Session, 9.00am to 10.00am – 1-1 Interviews as requested
M7

Inika Weber (2022 Graduate) – Winner of a 2023 UNSW Co-op Scholarship (Bachelor of Renewable Science/Engineering)

The UNSW Co-op program has been running for 35 years and is Australia’s biggest scholarship program of its type, linking students to industry throughout their degree. Scholars undertake internships with sponsor companies at many stages throughout their degree, leading to real industry experience before graduation. Inika Weber (2022) has already been linked to several employees of her sponsor company “Neoen”, which she is excited to collaborate with in the future. UNSW interviewed 776 Co-op scholarship applicants, conducted 323 interviews (some students had multiple interviews), and awarded 76 Co-Op scholarships.

During her presentation at Wilderness, Inika mentioned that the Co-op scholarship has already provided her with the opportunity to make new connections within UNSW, such as the higher year students, Head of School and Academic Coordinator. Furthermore, through the monetary benefits of the Co-op scholarship, including a $5000 accommodation subsidy for UNSW residences, she has been able to move to Sydney and live on campus, which has been an incredible opportunity to meet new people from around Australia and the world. Living in Goldstein College, the smallest of UNSW’s Kensington Colleges, has provided opportunities to be involved in college sport, inter-college competitions and other social events. College has a variety of ‘officership’ roles, to organise and run events aligning with their values, and Inika has been appointed Goldstein’s ‘Charity Officer’ for 2023. She is looking forward to organising charitable events and helping to give back to the community.

Key tips provided by Inika and her Mum, Delene when applying for the Co-op scholarship at UNSW include:

• Although an ATAR above 95 is required, a student’s contribution to their local community is highly valued
• Important criteria used to allocate Co-op scholarships included a student’s commitment to volunteering, part time work, leadership positions, debating and public speaking experience, serving as an SRC member, Duke of Edinburgh participation and being a student entrepreneur/small business owner.

James Cook University (JCU) Visit – March 2023

On Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 March, I was invited to attend the JCU TeacherX information days in Cairns, QLD. Career counsellors from around Australia attended course information sessions on Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Marine Biology and Law, to name a few, toured JCU’s outstanding facilities and heard from current students. While in Cairns, I met up with Wilderness Old Scholars Jade Yeung (2016, Sixth Year Medicine), Kate Venning and Leah George (2019, Fourth Year Medicine) and Alana Commons and Shania Paranavithana (2020, Second year Dentistry).

All girls spoke highly of their experiences at JCU and recommend the Dentistry and Medicine programs at JCU. We have called on the experiences of these girls in the past to assist Year 12 students in their university and course investigations; they have all been generous and honest in their provision of information and have offered to keep in contact with the Wilderness community in the future to assist students considering JCU. A JCU representative will be at Wilderness on Tuesday 4 April during recess time in the Clarnette Room. Students are encouraged to attend.