We met at UNE - Ellen Aren-Mikac and Ian Westrip
Canberra-based Ellen Arena-Mikac has never met fellow UNE law alumnus Ian Westrip in person. But she credits their online friendship with helping her through one of her toughest challenges.
“I had become friends online with Ian when I was doing the Criminal Law unit and he progressively became my mentor,” Ellen says. “About nine months into my degree, I felt it was all too hard, and I was going to give up.
“Ian finished his degree before me and pretty much dragged me through the rest of mine. It helped so much knowing that I could always reach out to him and that he’d respond. He would send messages through Facebook, saying ‘you’ve got this’. And those messages seemed to arrive when I needed them most.
“Ian’s encouragement kept me accountable. I don’t think I would have got through the degree without him and that emotional support.”
In Sydney, Ian (a former carpenter) understood well the value of an online law friendship. Throughout his Bachelor of Laws degree, he became good mates with fellow student Ray Harris (a former police officer) while completing Property Law in 2020. They soon began giving one another reassurance – and curry, at times – as part of a small, supportive cohort.
“We would butt heads and tease each other a lot, but also lean on each other when we needed to,” Ian says. “It’s a long period of time to spend with other students and I developed quite close relationships with the stable, core group of us who regularly did units together. Ellen was studying part-time and sometimes I had to drag her up by her boot straps.”
When Ellen (a hairdresser of 30 years) graduated, in April 2025 – having juggled considerable family, work, business and study responsibilities – Ian says he was “really stoked”. “It’s a hard course, especially when you have a lot happening alongside it, which most of us did. That common ground helps to foster relationships with other students, which are pretty important when you are studying online. I’m flattered that Ellen puts so much value on my help.”
As for the regular “nudges in the right direction”, Ellen says Ian is “super humble”. “He has no concept of how much he helped me to get through,” she says.
For the record, Ellen is now working as a legal officer in a government department, Ian is a criminal lawyer and Ray a prosecution lawyer.
