Noga feels she can ‘do anything’ now that she has successfully completed Year 12 and is off to university next year. She will move on to study Environmental Biology/Anthropology and Sociology, after her new found confidence has led her to achieve her goals.
Her excitement about the future is palpable, as she talks of her early days at CJSC. Noga came to CJSC mid-way through Year 11 after a negative learning experience in a traditional high school. She had also suffered with mental health issues and was not in the right space to learn. She repeated Year 11 and credits the “healthy learning environment at CJSC” for the personal and academic success she had from then on.
“I changed my outlook, but I also had incredibly supportive teachers who care about the individual. They made sure we had every possible resource, provided tutoring in their free time and adapted their teaching styles to suit us. There was always an open dialogue between students and teachers. The mentoring program provided by the campus was also fantastic and the Student Services staff helped me overcome hurdles”.
“Both my family and I are so proud of what I have achieved over the past three years!” Noga believes that doing the extra year to enter university was harder than doing a bridging course, but she feels better prepared for the necessary academic rigour. She attests to the fact that the mature learning environment at CJSC provided exactly what she needed and gave her that ‘second chance’.
Written by Anne MacDermott