Year 12 student, and young Wemba Wemba woman, Ayva Ryan, includes BSSC when she speaks of the wealth of opportunities she’s been given and wonderful people she’s met.
“I’m so grateful to the many people who have helped me along the way—family, friends, teachers, the BSSC Wellbeing Team, Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative, Headspace. I want to give back, especially to young kids in First Nations communities.”
Ayva’s mum, a Creative Arts teacher, is a champion role model.
“She is a life-long learner who has always been there supporting me,” Ayva says. “She has helped me access what I need and she’s just so good at little things I really appreciate.”
BSSC has been a place of opportunity for Ayva, helping her clarify what she wants to pursue, and discover a resilience she didn’t realise she had.
“When I started here I doubted I would finish VCE because past experiences of bullying had made school a really hard place for me to be.”
However, Ayva says BSSC is so inclusive it gave her the courage to continue her schooling.
She discovered she could create her own pathway with freedom to study whatever she wanted, guided by specialist teachers who could help her get great results.
“I was given four awards at the end of Year 11 and being noticed for my efforts really motivated me to do well this year.”
Her biggest challenge was adjusting to the extra significance of results in VCE.
Ayva has deeply appreciated encouragement she’s had to connect more strongly with Culture and the BSSC First Nations community—and to get involved in a tutoring program held in the Scholars Hut.
Nothing resembling BSSC’s amazing ‘Scholars Hut’ was available at any of Ayva’s other schools.
“Last year I had a La Trobe University lecturer in Pharmacy tutoring me for Chemistry, and this year my tutor is a La Trobe University lecturer in Occupational Therapy.”
Her tutors have been exceptionally helpful and given Ayva great insight into tertiary study.
“I’ve been to La Trobe and Melbourne Uni’s Open Days and attended some uni camps where we attend lectures, see what it’s like to live on campus, and spend time in the labs.
Traditional Culture is incredibly important to Ayva.
However, connecting with her Wemba Wemba Culture has been impacted by experiences that led her grandmother to avoid telling anyone about her First Nations heritage.
“Like my grandmother, I hid my Aboriginal heritage when I was younger because I got teased at one school where I was often asked to give the ‘Welcome to Country’. As far as they knew, I was the only First Nations student there.
“The resilience of First Nations Peoples is so impressive to me,” she says. “Despite the racism, violence, and impact of the stolen generation, they have not been assimilated.”
Australia’s traditional languages have been hugely impacted by colonisation and the language of Wemba Wemba people is in danger of becoming extinct.
However, there have been some efforts to preserve it, giving Ayva—who is also studying German Language in VCE and via Duolingo—the chance to learn at least some of her traditional language.
A member of Bendigo District Aboriginal Co-operative’s Indigenous Youth Council, Ayva says, “Mob’s education and representing what young people need is at the front of our minds, and we want to decrease the negative stereotypes the media always seem to push.”
Ayva is also studying Psychology, Music Performance, Sociology, and English.
“As well as preparing me for a future career in Occupational Therapy or Social Work, studying Psychology has been personally helpful.”
“I want to have a career that makes a difference to the physical and mental health of others, and I’d be interested in working in remote communities too.
Well past those early days of wondering if she could actually manage VCE, Ayva has developed a toolbox of skills and practices that work for her.
“I break my study into manageable chunks and work in silence, so I don’t get distracted. When I do work with others I find quizzes are brilliant.”
When she gets stressed, Ayva’s de-stressor is heavy metal music, and she’s a big Metallica fan.
Ayva has studied VCE Music during both years at BSSC—after picking up clarinet in Year 7 because it was the only instrument she could get any sound from!
Until recently, she was part of the Bendigo Youth Orchestra and the Bendigo Colleges’ Symphonic Band.
Eight years old when she started playing tennis at Ironbark, Ayva is still guided by the same coach and was a ‘ball kid’ when the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) came to Bendigo.
One of Australia’s greatest-ever female tennis players, Wiradjuri woman, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, has been a huge inspiration for Ayva—who saw her hero in Bendigo a few years ago.
Ayva is one of those people who didn’t stop drawing and painting as she matured. She takes inspiration from the natural world and has a deep appreciation for Indigenous art.
Her part-time job has helped her realise, “sometimes people just need a chat”, but it’s also helped overcome her shyness, and she now enjoys the conversations with her customers.
The levels of poverty and low standard of living too many Australian people endure, causes Ayva to ask, “How are we spending our money as a country and individuals? We could help each other so much more, but avoid getting involved.”
Ayva’s also concerned about global warming—which she points out is threatening all life on Earth—and wars she believes could be better solved, with much less suffering, through civil conversation.
“The most important thing is that we don’t give up! If I could go back and give my 12-year-old self some advice, that’s what I would tell myself: don’t give up when something goes wrong.
“I’d say, ‘try to fix a problem’. Most things are not the end of the world and even when people have wronged you, you need to put it behind you and not let it change who you are or what you want to be.”
