Ready for life and work: meet our newest graduands

Four students. Four different stories. Tomorrow they will be brought together at Marvel Stadium when they officially become RMIT graduates.

Nearly 9,000 graduands will attend the Marvel Stadium ceremony, making it RMIT’s biggest Melbourne graduation.

While these soon-to-be graduates come from diverse backgrounds and have a variety of experiences, four have shared their unique stories with us.

From Syria to Australia

Omar Al Kassab is reminded just how much education means to him and his family every time he looks at the battered English dictionary he took to his RMIT exams for inspiration.

Omar’s father Abdul was in prison for 11 years in Syria and learnt English by reading the dictionary, which a doctor smuggled in.

Omar’s journey to RMIT’s graduation day is particularly remarkable.

The 24-year-old came to Australia in 2014 after fleeing Syria as a refugee.

He’d previously completed two years of engineering in Syria and was arrested at university for undertaking humanitarian work and subsequently tortured.

He later started a pharmacology degree in Egypt before his uncle sponsored the family to come to Australia in 2014.

He and brother Saad shared their family’s story of fear, friendship and global connections in an inspiring Tedx Talk.

When he arrived in Australia, Omar’s interests had expanded to finance, globalisation, technology trends and how to run a business and he enrolled in RMIT’s Bachelor of Business after it was recommended to him.

He said he was proud to graduate from RMIT and excited to begin a career in management consulting at Deloitte.

“Education has always been one of the most important things in my life and being at RMIT has been an important chapter,” he said.

“I’ve loved it. I’ve built great knowledge and relationships with students.”

Omar said RMIT’s industry focus was a point of difference.

“There were lots of things going on at RMIT outside of classes. You would go to workshops, learn about artificial intelligence, new technology and that’s been really helpful for me to get a job,” he said.

“I’ve done a placement with the Bennelong Fund Management Group as part of a Bennelong Foundation scholarship and [I’ve] been connected with professionals from big and prestigious firms across different industries.”

RMIT 2.0

Jacqui Shadforth was always interested in technology and computers, but it took a Bachelor of Design to lead her to a career in computer science.

She took a web programming subject during her Design degree at RMIT and began thinking about software development and programming as possible careers.

A lot of consideration and a catch up with an RMIT careers counsellor later and Jacqui decided to undertake a second degree, this time a Bachelor of Computer Science.

The 26-year-old will start as a graduate software developer at REA Group (realestate.com.au) next year and aspires to be a solutions architect to help teams design their systems from the ground up.

Her interest in REA Group was sparked after meeting staff and graduates at a School of Science ‘tech talk’ event, before attending a DevOps Girls program.

Jacqui said RMIT had taught her how to learn, not just what to learn, acknowledging that her learning wouldn’t stop once she left University.

“I feel confident that I could pick up a new programming language or concept because what I’ve learnt during my computer science degree has laid a strong foundation,” she said.

“One of the classes I just took was called Internet of Things (IoT), where we got to program with Raspberry Pis. IoT was a new course just offered this semester. Throughout my degree, I’ve been looking at and learning cutting-edge technology that industry is using.”

Jacqui said making great friends through RMIT SWITCH (Society for Women in Information Technology) was a highlight of her time at RMIT.

“I care a lot about what I do, the industry, and the gender gap. Diversity is important. I try to be part of communities that are promoting women in tech, and that’s something I want to continue to do,” she said.

Real world learning

“Biomed pride” will be front of mind when Steph Doyle attends tomorrow’s Graduation Day.

The 22-year-old said she had become close with the small cohort of Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering students she was graduating with.

Together, they’ve showcased real-world projects at EnGenius, built bridges from spaghetti and hot glue to test toy cars, and they’ve gotten the Biomedical Students Society back up-and-running.

Steph grew up asking for Lego, Meccano and blocks for Christmas and knew she wanted to pursue engineering in the last couple of years at school.

She came across biomed at an RMIT open day and knew it combined her interests in problem solving and the body.

She said RMIT’s emphasis on practical placements and skills stood out.

“You learn a lot of independence and how to take control of your own destiny. There are a lot of good frameworks and systems at university, but it’s up to you to take advantage of them and shape your own future,” she said.

“I did an internship at BioFab3D based at St Vincent's Hospital. I was part of a team working on regenerating human cartilage, a tissue that is unable to regenerate on its own. I help to set up a model to determine how the biofabricated cartilage would interact with the natural human knee joint.”

The need to make science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers known to girls of all ages was highlighted when Steph gave a talk about maths in life to a primary school class last year.

“One little girl came up to me and said, `I didn’t realise women could be engineers’,” she said.

“My initial reaction was just shock and, `of course you can do it’.

“It hit me it wasn’t just a talk. I got lot of more out of that than I expected.”

Steph’s RMIT journey will continue next year when she begins her PhD in tissue engineering in collaboration with BioFab3D.

Friends for life

Jedda Rocha Costa never thought she’d have the opportunity to attend university. Tomorrow she will graduate with a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism).

As she prepares to leave RMIT, Jedda was reminded of her childhood hopes and dreams when she saw her old school notebooks at her mum’s house just recently.

“At 11, I had to write a profile on myself and one of the questions was what I wanted to be in the future. I wrote singer, journalist and zoo keeper. I studied journalism and I still do music,” she said.

“I never thought I’d go to uni and here I am at the end of my degree.”

Jedda, 22, said engaging with other Indigenous students through the Ngarara Willim Centre had been a highlight of her time at university.

“We’ve formed a family and I’ve found friends for life,” she said.

“I’ve also met some amazing staff through the Ngarara Willim Centre.

“Adrian Pattinson has tutored me the whole way through my time at RMIT and he’s someone that I still look for support and guidance.”

The Centre is place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to be supported and encouraged during their studies.

Ngarara Willim means ‘gathering place’ in the language of the Wurundjeri, the traditional custodians of the land where RMIT stands.

Jedda is also a recipient of the Ricci Marks award for her work advocating for young Indigenous people.

She is currently working casually in communications and looking forward to lifelong learning through work and travel opportunities.

“I really feel like my degree will open up so many doors in the future,” she said.

Story: Amelia Harris

Society and Environment

11 December 2018

Society and Environment

11 December 2018

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Future World of Work
Indigenous
Student experience

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Ready for life and work: meet our newest graduands