You know you’re doing too much when you wake up the day you’re meant to fly to Sydney for a work conference and realise you actually haven’t booked to attend said conference. Yep, I think the post-Daylight Savings hangover caught up with me this week but it’s also the curse of modern day life trying to juggle it all and one of the balls hit the ground today.
Needless to say, I flew to Sydney where I currently am and have been allowed to register last minute but it definitely isn’t the way to go. I’ve been very busy these the past few months with my Young Alumni plan now endorsed and programming for next year, which is still a work in progress.
Coupled with that, I’ve been helping my colleagues in the development (fundraising) team conduct face-to-face interviews with selected alumni (graduates) for further feedback before we go to market with our most ambitious fundraising campaign ever at La Trobe University. It’s actually been a fascinating process and we’ve had guidance from a New-York based consultancy which specialises in Advancement so it’s been inspiring to see where a career in Alumni Relations and Advancement can take you.
I’ve also attended recent Graduations Ceremonies hearing some fantastic occasional addresses from alumni speakers. While lawyer Sarah Fregon quoted Winnie the Pooh, Dr Annabelle Duncan quoted Dr Suess’s ‘Oh, the places you’ll go!‘. And it’s reassuring to note that even the highest achievers have not had linear paths in terms of their career journeys. I think when you graduate and are not completely sure of what path you want to go down in a certain period of time, then post-graduate study definitely becomes a consideration.
With that in mind, I met with and watched the Where a degree can take you panel (above) at this week’s PG Expo (Bundoora campus) featuring alumni including high profile media personality Tiffany Cherry, scientist Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith and legal digital disruptor and founder Demetrio Zema from Law Squared. All of them are highly impressive people and speakers so it’s a shame the conversation wasn’t filmed. The upcoming city event featuring motivational speaker Turia Pitt is being held on Wednesday 23 October.
It has indeed been a busy time and given there’s now 10 weeks between now and when the University shuts down for Christmas, I’ll be sprinting to the end. Although I hope I don’t experience a brain fade as big as today’s again – it’s definitely not #allkindsofclever! Have a great week.
Miss Rosanna 