Penny Horton says her favourite part of working with new UNE students is watching them walk away – armed with information and services they didn’t even imagine were available to help them succeed.
“It can be very daunting to a lot of people to apply and study at university, so when you’re able to flag with them everything they can access – which a lot of them are not aware of – they walk away and you can see them feeling a bit more content in their ability to start university and be prepared for their studies.”
Penny is a Student Connect Officer at the UNE Tamworth Centre. Her day might involve helping students to select units, enrolling into their course, getting in contact with other UNE teams to be assessed for advanced standing, have a study access plan created, order an academic transcript, or apply for an extension.
Most of the students she sees are not fresh from school, which often means they’re studying around other commitments like work and family.
Penny has some experience with that herself, having done a teaching degree in Newcastle while working part-time in admin (although “that was pre-kids, which was very handy!”)
It was a juggle, making sure I fitted my uni work into three days so I could maintain those permanent two days at work.
“It was a juggle, making sure I fitted my uni work into three days so I could maintain those permanent two days at work,” she says.
“I had to save annual leave and only take it during pracs; another challenge some other students didn't have to worry about was due dates for assessments – they were mostly all due at 5pm on a Friday, so I would often hand mine in on my way to work on the Friday morning.”
Penny was trained in primary and early childhood education, and taught for a few years in the Newcastle and Armidale areas before working with UNE’s Student Accessibility & Wellbeing and Counselling & Psychological Services team in Armidale, which support students to overcome barriers in their lives and studies, such as learning difficulties, family violence or living remotely.
Now a mum of two little girls, she’s been in her new role at the Tamworth centre for about 15 months.
With UNE about to build a new campus in the city, Penny’s experience with school leavers and older students tells her the expansion will be well-utilised.
“I think with Tamworth growing in population, having the campus in the future will help school leavers stay in the area instead of feeling like they have to move away – depending, obviously, on their choice of course. Having a university in their town puts that in their mindset as well, and they may feel more comfortable going to university if they’re used to talk of it around town.
“Also, it might encourage a lot of mature-aged people an opportunity to retrain, to follow what might have been their dream.
“Even now we see it: we have a student who is in accounting but is now studying nursing because she’d like to finish her working career as a nurse, like she always wanted to be.”
