DHUB helps Indigenous Dubbo College students apply for Camp Aspire

DHUB Coordinator Brooke Mallison recently assisted ten First Nations students from Dubbo College Senior Campus in submitting nominations for Camp Aspire.  

Camp Aspire is an annual event run through Macquarie University’s Walanga Muru faculty. This three-day residential camp is held on the university’s North Ryde campus for Indigenous students in years eleven and twelve.  

Throughout the camp’s program, students are given the opportunity to participate in leadership and team-building activities, join lectures run by faculty professors and hear from current students about their experiences at the campus.  

“The camp gives the participants a genuine feel for what university life is like,” said Brooke.

“For the participants to get that real hands-on experience is much more worthwhile than attending online introductions to university.” 

To apply, participants needed to select a faculty stream to learn more about, choosing between MQ Business School, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences and Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine. They then addressed why they selected the stream, calling on their aspirations for particular careers.  

While making these decisions, the DHUB team supported students by speaking about different degrees on offer within each faculty and helping them to navigate where their interests might lie.  

In this nomination process, participants have raised they aren’t as worried about the learning side of university life when considering a course. The main concerns were about more practical areas such as where to sleep or eat, how to navigate the campus, and how to find support services available to Indigenous students.  

By helping participants apply for Camp Aspire, they have the opportunity to answer some of those big questions about university life before taking the step towards finishing school and attending a campus.  

“For students to be given the opportunity to attend camps like this is a given,” said Brooke.

“We must ensure we give all our participants as many opportunities as possible to ease their minds of what university life is like.”

We wish all the nominees the best of luck with their applications and look forward to working with our DHUB senior students on similar opportunities in the future.    

About DHUB

As part of the NSW Government’s OCHRE initiative (Opportunity, Choice, Healing, Responsibility, Empowerment), Bamara leads the work of the Dubbo Opportunity Hub (DHUB), a program for Aboriginal students in Dubbo and Wellington focusing on transitioning from education to careers and employment.