The event kicked off with a warm welcome from GOALS alumnus Andrew Phong. Next, we heard from three terrific panellists: Accelerate scholar Seth O’Donnell, mentor Fairuz Khan and Principal Belinda Giudice. We welcomed this year’s 35 new ABCN Foundation scholarship recipients with the help of ABCN’s chairman Tony Macvean, and spoke with incoming scholar Jordan Zammitt.

We also gave our guests a small taste of ABCN’s digital programs, with everyone joining in with some ‘digi-dancing’. If you don’t know what that means, watch the event recording below to find out and join the fun!

What does ABCN mean to our network?

During the event, we asked participants to describe ABCN in one word — you can see the result below.

From the whole team at ABCN, thank you for your support during this challenging but exciting year. Here’s to a safe and happy 2021!

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We are grateful that funder support enabled us to increase our intake from previous years to address this demand and as a result, 35 bright and deserving young students will start the program in 2021.

One of our successful applicants, Jamila*, was only nine when ISIS came to her village in Iraq. She remembers the choice they had to make as a family – staying meant torture or death, and leaving meant starting over, not knowing where. Terrified, and with minutes to spare, the family scrambled into their car, leaving everything behind – their home, school, community and money – destination unknown.

For many years, the family was in limbo, living in a refugee camp, with no clean water, no school and not enough food. While grateful to be granted entry to Australia in 2017, they then faced new challenges.

‘Everything was different: the language, the people, the places … everything,’ says Jamila. ‘It was a new start, and I was grateful for it, but it was far from easy. I didn’t know the language and, for a long while, I felt invisible.’

Despite arriving in Australia with no English, Jamila is now in the top 5% of her cohort, and also tutors other students who are struggling with the language.

‘I want to make a difference in society by working as part of the Australian community,’ she says. ‘I want to be an advocate for other students from disadvantaged backgrounds so they know no matter what, to stay strong, stay patient, and to believe that their hard work will pay off. This scholarship will be an opportunity for me to be the first in my family to go to university.’

Refugees make up half of applicants

Of our 2020 applications, 48% were refugees like Jamila. Over 30% have parents with an education level below Year 12, 23% had suffered traumatic experiences and 15% live in precarious housing.

Accelerate is a three-year mentoring and financial program for exceptional yet disadvantaged students. Successful applicants receive a unique combination of one-on-one corporate mentoring support and financial assistance over Years 11, 12 and their first year of tertiary studies or training.

‘Once again, selecting this year’s scholarship winners was difficult, and provided a strong indication of the immense challenges many Australians are facing,’ says ABCN Foundation Chair, Mike Hawker. ‘I hope for those students selected it will make a substantive difference in helping them to reach their potential.’

Not surprisingly, Victorian students made up a greater proportion of applicants than in previous years, reflecting the particularly tough circumstances faced by Victorian families in lockdown due to COVID-19. Targeted funding for Victorian students allowed us to increase our focus in this state, with Victorian students representing 46% of scholarship awards. Other targeted scholarships were offered to First Nations, female, NESB/refugee, LGBTQI and Western Australian students.

Successful recipients will be honoured at a national online event on 26 November.

* Name has been changed to protect the identity of the student.

Our scholarships are wholly reliant on funding from the corporate sector, philanthropic foundations and generous individuals. We would like to acknowledge the following supporters who have made our 2020 scholarships possible:

Corporate

Bank of Melbourne, Citi Pride Network, Investec, KPMG, Microsoft (Brian Glasgow Memorial Scholarship), Navitas, Optus, Stockland, TAL.

Trusts and Foundations

Fogarty Foundation, Harold Mitchell Foundation, James N Kirby Foundation, JIBB Family Foundation, Matana Foundation for Young People, Miss M K A Bell Memorial Fund, Oliver-Affleck Fund, Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, William Buckland Foundation.

Major Donors

Mike Hawker AM, Tony Macvean, Paul O’Sullivan, Rob Priestly, Matthew Quinn, Mary Reemst, Stephen Roberts, Robert Sindel, Guy Templeton, Carla Zampatti AC, Helen Zimmerman.

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They met when Kate was Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, a founding member of ABCN, and Kerrie was leading St Albans Secondary College, an ABCN partner school comprising 53 nationalities and where 50% of families are in the lowest socio-economic status quartile.

This year, COVID-19 disrupted their regular breakfast catch-ups, but not their strong bond.

Kate Temby:

I volunteered to participate in ABCN’s Partners in Learning (PiL) program because I have a strong interest in the power of education to expand possibilities for young people. The uniqueness of PiL is it brings commercial business skills together with educational leadership.

Even before I met Kerrie, I understood the breadth of St Albans Secondary College’s challenges and achievements. My first impression of Kerrie was that she had such a huge role. I was to mentor her however there was so much to admire about her. Our relationship has been built on many years of listening and openly sharing our personal and professional experiences. Our conversations are truly collaborative.

Early on, I met with a group of senior teachers as part of a leadership development program. They were all staring at me with eyes that said, ‘What would this person [from the finance world] have to add value to our school?’ I have been in front of tough audiences before and I always look to what we have in common. Here, we were individuals coming together to try to improve an organisation and outcomes for both teachers and students.

I have been very appreciative of the openness and sharing from both Kerrie and the school. I was very privileged to be invited to be an expert advisor as part of the school’s recent four-year strategic plan. It is one of the most thorough planning processes I have been part of.

‘My Partners in Learning relationship with Kerrie has been a career highlight.’

It is so rewarding to contribute to sustainable improvements across the school. About eight years ago, Kerrie led the initiative to introduce teacher peer-to-peer reviews. We talked about the key change management principles and how Kerrie could engage her team to take on a new approach. Kerrie was very open to my suggestion of starting with a small cohort of 20 people initially to build confidence in the program. It is fantastic to see peer-to-peer reviews are now a core part of the school’s culture.

Kerrie has taught me the importance of doing small things well. Years ago, the school was focusing on student uniforms. Kerrie was clear that the power of doing this was that it showed respect for the school, which is a core value there. Just do one thing well and repeat it.

Kerrie and I usually meet one-on-one once a term over breakfast, although since COVID we have met on Zoom. Normally I also meet with her senior leadership team each term and discuss a particular area of focus. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we have not done that this year.

During the Melbourne lockdown, St Albans was in a hot spot. The school has been closed, they have had COVID cases and some staff have lost family members. Kerrie is a compassionate leader; she can rise above the noise and connect with staff, students and the community. Her superpower is her clarity. Everything she does is based on her core beliefs and values.

Kerrie has given me insight into the breadth of my own skills, validating the way I approach people management. I am now confident that my skills are portable and I have aspirations to extend my focus beyond education and finance.

My PiL relationship with Kerrie has been a career highlight. My initial ambition was to build a long-term relationship with the school. I am so fortunate that Kerrie and St Alban’s Secondary College have been so open to learning and I have helped, in a small way, to improve the outcomes for students and staff and to have developed such a deep and trusting friendship with Kerrie.

Kerrie Dowsley:

Prior to starting the mentoring program, I was nervous and unsure about being partnered with a senior business executive like Kate but also excited by the opportunity. I didn’t know what I’d have to bring that could equal the knowledge and skill base she would have. It seemed to me at that time that, culturally and organisationally, a school is so different from a corporate environment.

My first impression of Kate was that she was light and bright and open. She was relatable. I was surprised by Kate’s immediate commitment to our relationship and to a school and community of people that she had nothing to do with. She was instantly invested in such a genuine way, and this has been unwavering since that first meeting, even across significant changes for her professionally.

In one of our early team meetings with Kate, she asked us what our ‘headline achievement measures’ were. Following a brief and slightly awkward silence, she explained the importance of measuring and reporting to your community on key achievements that align with the values of the school. This is at the very heart of how Kate works; everything she does links back to her organisational and personal values. She showed us the power of communicating the connection between achievement and values.

She’s given me a different lens through which to look at our work. Prior to joining the mentoring program, our leadership team was doing a good job of the school’s strategic work, however we weren’t always intentional about tailoring communications to our audiences. Kate showed us how important stakeholder management is to the success of our work and to bringing about sustained improvement and change.

‘There are so many things I love and admire and find funny about Kate.
The fact that she went on Survivor for a start!’

Our people, whether it be staff, students or members of the community, now understand their role in the big picture and are enabled to enact the strategic vision. She challenged us to get our annual plan onto one page. The resulting document, which we call The Skinny, is a great way of summarising our key actions and success indicators for the year.

Kate’s superpower is that she connects with people in such an effortless and sincere way. There are so many things I love and admire and find funny about Kate. The fact that she went on Survivor for a start!

While I do think the mentoring is more one-sided, we are united through our commitment to education and our belief in its power as a game-changer. We are women in leadership, and this connects us and transcends any difference in our respective worlds of education and business.

In August we caught up on Zoom – it was our first catch up this year. It was great to talk to someone who could provide an outside perspective, who wasn’t experiencing the intensity of running a school through COVID-19. Kate was refreshing and reaffirming, and this conversation reminded me, again, how really fortunate I am to be in a partnership with her – it’s as deep and entrenched as it is influential.

Click here to learn more about ABCN’s Partners in Learning program.

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At a recent webinar held by ABCN, our CEO Allegra Spender was joined by Glenn Baird, Head of Mental Health at TAL, Petrina Felix-Tolhurst, Executive Manager of Business Enablement at IAG, and Beth Godwin, Principal of Cabramatta High School, for a frank discussion about mental health, managing stress, and looking out for the wellbeing of others.

Given the particularly rocky past few months for Australians, hit hard by the nation’s bushfire crisis over summer and now the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is unsurprising that our collective mental health has taken a turn for the worse.

Here are some tips and links from Australia’s leading mental health organisations.

Spotting the signs of poor mental health

Some of the symptoms of poor mental health include avoiding social activities, reduced productivity, loss of concentration and mood swings. Behavioural changes can be one of the biggest indicators that someone we know is suffering with poor mental health. However, not everyone will experience the same symptoms. Beyond Blue has some excellent resources on the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

What you can do to help

If you suspect that someone is struggling with their mental health, the best thing you can do is to simply start an open conversation with them. R U OK? suggests four simple steps: ask if they’re ok; listen with an open mind; encourage them to take action; check in with them later.

For mentors: if you encounter questions from a student about mental health that you’re unsure how to answer, it’s ok to say you don’t know. If you have concerns about the mental health of your mentee, please talk to your ABCN Program Manager as soon as possible. We will share those concerns with the school, which will have professionals and resources to support the student. It is important to remember you are not meant to have all the answers – good management of tricky situations is often handled by a team of people, including professionals when needed.

For teachers: ReachOut has some great classroom resources (thanks, Stockland, for suggesting we connect with them). They include tips for teacher wellbeing and supporting students. R U OK? also has a wealth of educator resources here.

For young people: check out headspace, Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation. They have lots of great information about mental health for young people aged between 12-25. Smiling Mind has some great mindfulness podcasts targeted at different ages from pre-school up. A few of us here at ABCN use them when we wake up in the middle of the night with something on our minds – our CEO has even been known to use Smiling Mind to help calm down her children.

For workplaces: R U OK? has a dedicated resource site for talking about mental health in the workplace. The school leaders who attended our webinar reported some great things they are doing to support each other – from running a teacher aerobics class in 80s workout gear, to consciously sharing stories. Managing workplace mental health begins with strong team support.

Our webinar speakers agreed that anonymous workplace wellbeing evaluations, mood meters for instance, are a great way to proactively support the mental wellbeing of your colleagues. These can give you a sense of how your team is feeling, and whether your organisation needs to increase support.

We also love this simple five-page pack of resources for managing mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Looking after your own wellbeing

We must first look after ourselves before we can look after others. Check out Beyond Blue’s handy tips for daily self-care, as well as improving your mental health at work.

Our webinar speakers praised the benefits of diarising mental breaks during your workday – why not schedule an extra 10 minutes between meetings to allow yourself to recharge?

And, of course, giving and connecting with others also boosts mental health – which is why it’s such a good idea to participate in ABCN programs!

If you or someone you know needs support, help can be found at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

Related content: watch ABCN mentors tell their stories of building resilience when times are tough, and examples of when they learned from their failures.

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Lucas knew as early as primary school that he was different. Unable to relate to girls and not fitting in with the boys, he felt trapped and alone. His own online research led him to confide his thoughts and feelings to a teacher and then a therapist, who gave him the courage to accept his sexuality. But this was only the beginning of a long road for Lucas.

At 16, fearful of his parents’ reaction, Lucas applied to Mission Australia for refuge while he gathered his thoughts and considered next steps. At this time, he also submitted his application for an ABCN Foundation LGBTQI scholarship, supported by Citi’s Pride Committee.

‘I was still in the closet,’ says Lucas. ‘I didn’t know if I would have a home once my parents found out and that was scary. I hoped the financial and mentoring support of an ABCN scholarship would help me in my new future – even just to continue with school if needed. I wanted to make sure I could support my passion for art.’

As it turned out, Lucas’ parents were very accepting. And not long after, he was awarded an ABCN scholarship and Lucas began his transition from female to male.

Two years later, Lucas was in his element, studying art at the National Art School in Sydney, working part-time at Luna Park and discovering a whole community of new friends. For the first time in years, he felt like he belonged. He was happy.

But then COVID-19 hit. His mentor, Jacqui Jones from PwC, says this was an extremely tough, dark time for Lucas.

‘All of a sudden, his whole world turned upside down,’ Jacqui says. ‘Both work and uni stopped. And with that, Lucas was cut off from a support network of friends. When you’re 18, and still exploring who you are, your “tribe” is so crucial to your sense of identity. It’s very hard for a fiercely independent, LGBTQI student to return to the suburbs of south-western Sydney, to live with parents, away from community and peers.’

A perfect storm

Like many young people today, Lucas was also anxious about the impact of COVID-19 – the once-bright future suddenly seemed dim and uncertain. It was a perfect storm and his mental health began to spiral. He is grateful for weekly chats with Jacqui that helped him through this period.

‘Before the scholarship I didn’t have a support person that I could talk to,’ he says. ‘Jacqui isn’t an authority figure. She’s someone I can share my thoughts with when I don’t have friends. She listens. And I know I can talk to her about anything without any judgement.’

‘The continuity of our three-year relationship was important,’ says Jacqui. ‘I was glad I could help, not by being a counsellor, but as a trusted person that Lucas could speak to, who understands what it feels like to live in a world where you are marginalised. The assurance that the way you’re living life is OK and that you are normal really matters at 18.’

Today, Lucas is back on campus at university and looking for an apartment to rent nearby. He sounds confident, strong and focused. And he’s also working towards an exhibition of his own work, which will document his transition and reflect both LGBTQI and mental health issues.

‘I don’t know where I’d be today if it wasn’t for my ABCN scholarship,’ he says. ‘I really hope this support continues for other kids like me. It helped me at the time I needed it the most and I’ll always be grateful for that.’

Can you help us give a young person like Lucas the opportunity of a lifetime?

Donate to the ABCN Foundation today. All donations are tax-deductible.

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