Alumni Gradlife eNewsletter, August 2012
Alumni Volunteers Help High School Students in Sydney's West
Alumni recently volunteered to speak to 200 local high school students from 15 schools at the Year 12 Fast Forward Conference.
Noel Niddrie, Bachelor of Arts (Applied Communication Studies) 1990
After completing his studies at UWS, Noel has moved on to become Managing Director of Winangali Pty Ltd.
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UWS congratulates its Olympic athletes
Now that Australia's Olympic team have returned home from the London Games, UWS congratulates its athletes, James Clark and Dani Samuels, on a stellar performance.
Read this story in full(opens in a new window)
Alumni Volunteers Help High School Students in Sydney's West
Left to right: Francis Vaiotu, Geline, Rob Wendon (Manager, Alumni Relations), Lisa Giacomelli, Rachel Bentley (Director, Engagement & CEO TVS), Jim Micsko (Manager, Fast Forward Program)
UWS Alumni spoke and volunteered at the inaugural Year 12 Fast Forward Conference, which brought together around 200 Year 12 students from 15 schools.
With the theme, What's Next, the Conference offered over 20 workshops on a variety of topics, including building a CV, applying to uni or TAFE, budgeting for students, and applying for scholarships.
The UWS Fast Forward program sees the university partnering with high schools in Sydney's Greater West to increase higher education participation rates and inform students about study and career pathways beyond Year 12. It offers regular group events and activities for students in Years 9-12.
Jim Micsko, UWS Fast Forward Program manager, said the Conference was designed to be a wrap-up for the program's participants as well as ensuring they had all of the necessary information at their fingertips to make a well-informed decision about their futures.
It's about life beyond Year 12, and just consolidating all the learning they've had in the previous three years in the program, he said.
In addition to representatives from university, TAFE and private colleges, a number of successful UWS alumni were on hand to share their experiences.
Lisa Giacomelli, acting Director of Corporate Services, Canterbury Council, was one of them. As a “relatively average student” without university-educated parents, “the concept of education was quite foreign”. She explained to the Fast Forward students how in addition to all the career advantages it provides, a university education can also shape the person you want to become.
“It’s a place to connect with other people who might have had similar experiences to you, a place where you’re encouraged to be yourself and to explore the world around you, a place where achievement is recognised in many different ways,” Lisa said. “UWS gave me confidence around finding a place where I really belonged, where my world view was accepted.”
“I look at all of the benefits and experiences I have had throughout my career and my adult life, and I owe them in no small part to my time at UWS. So sharing those thoughts was really important to me,” she added.
Left to right: Jioji Ravulo (Lecturer), Dean Irwin, Kevin Adams, Rob Wendon (Manager, Alumni Relations), Lisa Giacomelli, Andrew Nguyen, Michelle Milholic
Andrew Nguyen, UWS graduate and Executive Director of Business Solutions Impact (BSI) Consulting, also said that his involvement in the Conference stemmed from his own feelings of uncertainty around finishing high school.
"My parents had a very narrow view about what courses I could go into. I would've loved to receive practical advice about the different pathways to taking up further study and interesting jobs… from people who had been there and done it", Andrew said.
"I'm of the view that we need to collectively give our young people every opportunity to be successful in their life journey, and I believe we can achieve this by taking a collaborative approach to supporting them and sharing knowledge and information."
Jim said including alumni speakers in the Conference showed the Fast Forward students that everyone has a different journey through to higher education.
"Our alumni speakers have been exemplars for our students, showing that this is what they can achieve if they really want to."
View the YouTube video online now (opens in a new window) to see what students had to say about the UWS Fast Forward Year 12 Conference.
Noel Niddrie, Bachelor of Arts (Applied Communication Studies) 1990
Indigenous communications and social research consultancy Winangali, owned and led by UWS graduate Noel Niddrie, has won the 2012 Queensland Business of the Year award at the Telstra Australian Business Awards.
Left to right: Tony Warren, Group Managing Director Corporate Affairs Telstra, Leonora Adidi, Brian Arley, Nancy Bamaga, Noel Niddrie (Winangali Director & UWS Alumnus), Jann Stuckey MP, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games.
After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Applied Communication Studies), Noel spent the early part of his career working in Indigenous and community radio. He became a communications consultant in the year 2000 to undertake social research and marketing campaigns specifically targeted towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
There was a strong need in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for information to be better targeted from Government and larger corporations.
Five years later he established Winangali. Today some of its current projects include partnering with KPMG on an evaluation of the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package, evaluating the Indigenous Tobacco Control Initiative, a four-year communications project on promoting respectful relationships called The Line, and a communication campaign informing Aboriginal communities about the switch-over from analogue to digital TV.
Noel said Winangali entered the Telstra Business Awards because it was a directed and systematic way to objectively look at our business.
"The feedback we got was that we were a great example of a cause-committed company that was able to follow sound business principles with a strong bottom line", he said.
Although Queensland based, Noel has opened an office in Sydney with plans of expanding into Canberra. The business has four full-time staff, two contractors and at any time, around 10-15 subcontractors, including group facilitators and community engagement people.
"Wherever we go across the country, we try to leave a legacy, whether it be with skills, knowledge or financial assistance.
It's not for me to tell somebody how to communicate in their community. What we'll do is engage with someone locally so that when we come out, we are able to negotiate the politics and engage community organisations that are most influential. This way, we can help our client's get the best bang for their buck."
Winangali won the News Limited Microbusiness category at the Queensland Telstra Business Award as well as winning the overall state award. It is now in the running for the National Microbusiness and National Business of the Year Awards.
As a business owner, Noel enjoys having the opportunity to pursue projects that he believes in.
"I appreciate the education I received at UWS and I'm now in a position where I can make decisions and choices. Without an education, my career would be influenced by others.
What I've been able to do throughout my career are things that are good for my soul. My first job was Publicity Officer at the fledging UWS Nepean before moving in 1992 into careers improving communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."
"Now with Winangali", he said, "the company must balance being commercially competitive with being culturally credible."
"Community credibility is our currency. The challenge for us is to make sure that we're credible within the Indigenous community while still being a profitable private organisation."
So far, it seems they've got the balance right.
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UWS congratulates its Olympic athletes
Olympian Dani Samuels
As Australia's Olympic team return home from the London Games, the University of Western Sydney congratulates its athletes, James Clark and Dani Samuels, on a stellar performance.
James Clark and Dani Samuels traded western Sydney for the London Olympic Village during the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
James, a 21-year-old Bachelor of Business and Commerce (Property) student at UWS, made his Olympic debut as a Goalkeeper in the Australian Men's Water Polo team.
Dani, a 24-year-old former UWS Bachelor of Arts student, represented Australia in her second Olympic Games in the Women's Discus Throw.
Read the full story online at the UWS News Centre (opens in a new window)
