CAITLIN: I love the program. I love that I get to take the opportunity to help out kids
who, like, I was in the position a year ago just - cause I'm only first year - and it's
so great to be able to help people out and give them guidance on what they might want
to do or give them ideas on what they might want to do at uni.
NATHAN: With the ambassador program, I feel it's benefiting me not only myself but also
the people that we work with. Coming from a person who's grown up with Autism,
making connections with other ambassadors has helped me greatly.
I've also developed skills that are going to help me in the future, especially with
teaching, like leading groups around, running workshops and even speaking in front of a
large group of people. PAUL: Explore Uni days have been a great benefit
to students from our college. It really opens their eyes and gets them thinking along the
lines of what they might like to do and also meet students who are either currently studying
or just completed their courses. For them to be able to connect and realise
that it's an option they have. MITCHELL: Definitely gave me a lot more confidence
because you have to speak to groups of upwards of one hundred or two hundred people.
TERRY: For me it was a lot about like networking and connections. In my first year of uni I
just sort of went to my class but I didn't really make any friends or anything. And then
after I got involved in the ambassador program I started making friends and I started getting
involved in the clubs and societies which is, you know, it's blown my mind really the
opportunities that are here at QUT. ETHAN: I think the program is really good.
I benefit from the program because I'm studying primary school teaching. I do it as an opportunity
to get in front of the children and practice public speaking as well. It helps me when
I'm in the classroom to know how to speak to children.
BEC: The benefits of the Ambassador program have been massive. It's given me so many more
skills that I can write on my resume, that I know employees will be looking for. It's
developed my confidence in public speaking, and enabled me to work with people of all
different ages, so to be able to communicate with teacher as well as with students.
LAURA: Being an ambassador not only allows you to give back to the communities and the
schools that you came from yourself and help those students realise that they too could
achieve their dreams. But one of the biggest hurdles I think for university students when
they first come to uni is becoming engaged with their university and getting involved
in a program like Explore Uni ambassadors allows you to not only learn more about your
university and the people in it, but also make really good friendships as well. So it
expands your social group and makes you really feel apart of the university that you're studying
at. BEC: The ambassador program has enabled me
to be much more involved in QUT, especially because I'm such a busy person and I wasn't
able to get involved in many of the clubs and societies that QUT has to offer. But being
an ambassador and getting paid employment has enabled me to immerse myself in the QUT
culture whilst also fitting into my lifestyle and getting paid from it as a result.
JADE: Not only does it give the kids the confidence, it also gives us the confidence and it inspires
us when we see the kids be inspired because we're initiating that. We are showing that
university is good, and okay to go to, and not scary. When you see them get excited about
that, it's exciting for you. TYRA: So, I became an ambassador in July 2011
and was on a camp within three days of being hired and just from that first three days
of working it helped changed my life, as cheesey at that sounds. I had to learn to be confident
in telling my story and talking about my family's story and my goals for the future. And it
kind of helped me learn to accept the faults of my family and my hardships and learn to
use them in a way that can help other people. So for me it's helped me a lot because I'm
now so much more confident not only at work but in life in being able to talk to people
about things and hopefully be able to help people through troubles just because of my
own experiences and the new confidence that I have.