Hello, I'm Samantha Armytage from Sunrise and I'm going Back to School with Student Edge
Tell us, what were you like as a student?
I was a boarder at high school. I grew up in country New South Wales. We owned a
property about 50kms out of Cooma in the Snowy Mountains
So I was away from home, I was at an all girl's boarding school which was run by Nuns
I wouldn't say I was the best student. I think I had natural abilities. I was very
sporty and very interested in sports. I wasn't terribly disciplined, but I liked,
I gravitated towards the subjects like Geography, Art, Drama which didn't really serve me very
well because I didn't follow my heart. This is my major thing too.
They were the subjects that I gravitated towards, I thought I wanted to be a physiotherapist
so I went and did the subjects that were Science based which was ridiculous because they did
not suit me, I did not enjoy them. My HSC mark was not terrific. I won't tell
you what it was but it wasn't great and it would give everybody hope that there is life
after the HSC. I had a great time at school but I wasn't
the greatest student, I wasn't terribly applied. What was it about Physiotherapy that you thought
Okay this is a career I... was it because the things you were passionate about, it was
hard to see the career? Look I didn't see the career at all, I didn't
think it through but then you don't. You're not meant to at 16; you're not meant to
know what you're gonna do at 39 at 16 or 17 when you choose these subjects in year 11
I just thought I was a country kid and Physiotherapy, it was one of those careers.. one of those
jobs in my mind that women did. We're talking about the nineties so it wasn't..
it's not ancient so like Kochie. I did work experience in a Physiotherapist in
year 10 and thought that was it. Now there is no way I would be a good Physiotherapist,
I have no tolerance for sick people so I don't know what I was thinking and it's lucky how
life turns out sometimes because things happen (that I will tell you about) that put you
in a different scenario and at the time, you don't quite know what's happening but it all
works out as long as you have a good work ethic and you open to fun and adventure and
hard work then it can work. Well I do want to get there.. I do want to
get to the abandoning of physiotherapy just quickly though, can you tell me about where
your parents decided to send you away so you weren't going to be studying in the snowy
mountains, did you have much say? No (Were you happy about it?) No I was 14
I had no say at all and at the time I was leaving my horse.
I was leaving my mates from you know public school, population 24 kids.
I was leaving a farm, I'd never really been to Sydney, I'd never seen a McDonald's. We
were very unsophisticated kids and all of a sudden I was going, and I was the oldest
so I was the first kid to go in our family and my sister and brother then came after
me but yeah I cried for a term, cried myself to sleep for a term at boarding school
But that was then and I now look back and made some terrific friends there and I got
over that after a term and I had a brilliant time and the world that had opened up to me
as far as sporting opportunities, educational opportunities, the network is extraordinary.
So I thank my parents everyday that they did that because it was a sacrifice they had to
make to pay to send us away and so it was a great opportunity but yeah I did not want
to go. No 14 year old wants to go (There's no horse,
there's no horses in Sydney) I was such a little country girl, I just wanted to be with
my horse and that's was it. So tell me now about.. you're looking to physiotherapy
and maybe you're heading towards journalism. Tell me about how you came to that decision?
Well... (well maybe there was a few steps in between) there was a few steps in between
So I started to realise about a quarter of the way through year 12 that these Science
based subjects were not for me, I wasn't enjoying it, I probably... nowadays you'd probably have
teacher support where they went "that kid is not thriving in this atmosphere" and then
they would try help it but in those days it was like...the nuns were like" Do
that assignment" and I'm like I don't understand that assignment so I guess I probably just
floundered a little bit. In hindsight, hindsight is a wonderful thing
and you'rE not supposed to have it at 17 or 18 but in hindsight I should've done Art and
Drama and English, I loved English but right you know all the things that I'm good at
Writing, speaking, being a bit of a showoff Cruising through year 12 was kinda of a bit
like okay I didn't quite, scholastically not great so I just focused on Sport, had a good
time. My HSC mark came through, it was terrible
and Mum and Dad were really disappointed and I thought, what am I gonna do, I thought I
know I'll go work in a school in England and you know I just come out of boarding school
so it was a safe environment to go back to a boarding school but as a substitute teacher/boarder mistress
During this year, this is where fate steps
in a little bit. There was an assembly in the school hall over
there and I was with the teaching staff. I'm only 6 months older then most of the girls
in the 6th form so I'm sitting with the teachers thinking okay what's going on here?
I use to take the 6th formers into Bath, into a nightclub mind you at the weekends so I
had fun. Again there's the theme in my life is fun
all the time. So there's... this woman comes to talk to the
girls in the school at assembly and her name is Kate Adie and she was a British war
correspondent and she spoke brilliantly about travel and you know this career called journalism
and I thought wow that sounds really interesting. That's great, I love the idea of the school
speaker actually inspiring the teachers to get into a different profession.
Well I wasn't technically a teacher, a lot of the old teachers were like you know, not
even listening. So I'm curious, has there been something that
you learned maybe it was during your cadetship earlier on or just on the job sort of the
hardest things or the things that you don't get told about journalism in school? What
are the things that you have picked up along the way?
I mean journalism is such a practical career that there is no way that they can prepare
you properly for what you're doing. You learn more in your first week as a cadet reporter
then you ever will sitting in a lecture hall in Bathurst and that's okay because there's
just no way to prepare. So they gave us the ethics and the Law which
is still handy, I still have my textbooks on the bookshelf at home, occasionally I would
go to them and check because I don't want to....you know
(Sure is that libel?/ Is that slander?) cause any mistrials that I will often you know... Kochie will say
something on air and I'm like "allegedly" and I think thank God for Media Law.
So they gave you all the grounding you know. It's what university is for, they taught us
I guess microphone etiquette and all that sort of stuff
But you know I mean then I started work at WIN TV in Canberra as a cadet reporter
and that's where Mum and Dad stepped in again. Because in hindsight I was a little bit of
a bum, I kind of bummed around alot. I remember ringing Mum and Dad in the last
sort of couple weeks of university and saying I've been offered this job at WIN TV in Canberra
which was the Nine affiliate - it's since closed down - but you know it was Channel 9 in Canberra.
It was a big job and I said to Mum and Dad, I might not take it because I really think
I just want to chill out, maybe go and do some snow reporting at Thredbo next season.
This is November and I was just going to chill out until the ski season started and I remember
Dad saying "You bloody will not, you're going to Canberra
to work for Channel 9." So you know that's were Mum and Dad, not even
subtly but they very much knew that I was the kind of person that needed to be pushed
toward focus They bit their tongue for a bit.
They'd let me go but then they'd not Looking back on all these experiences, is
there a particular regret from that time, I know you wished you'd studied you know those
things you love but you know, did it all work out? Yeah it did, you know you don't want to regret
school because it's so... such a part of your life for it's important to... you're learning
how to be a person, your character is developing I don't regret. There was a time when I felt
a bit sick about how I'd kind of... not applied myself like I should but that was really because
when you disappoint your parents, that's worse then when they're cranky with you, when they
just say nothing like it's like, oh my God. So I felt a bit sick but look it's all... you
know I think they couldn't be.. they're very proud now.
You know if I was to say anything, it's hard because you're so young and you don't really
know what your personality is but if you've got someone who can help you to see... kind
of nudge you into: "Well these are your strong points. You're a good talker,
you're a good writer, how about this?" I do wish someone had nudged me a little bit.
But then it kind of worked.. I got there on my own so that's okay.
Sure just a light nudging is always helpful A light nudging is good.
Sam, thanks so much for your time today. That's okay, pleasure
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