Mount Elliot resident, Ella Sandeman, is the 2020 recipient of TAFE’s Central Coast Campus Friends’ (CCCF) Equity Award, valued at $500.
CCCF is an association of volunteers encouraging post-school learning on the Central Coast and this award recognises and supports students who have overcome exceptional circumstances and are committed to continuing education.
Sandeman thanked CCCF for its support and said the money will help her continue her dreams.
“Art materials are costly, and the award will ease that burden,” Sandeman said.
“I hope to share with community members the enjoyment that art can provide.
“The Diploma course is giving me so much pleasure through enabling me to experience all sorts of media—pastel, oil, watercolour, acrylic.
“At school, art was pretty much limited to drawing.”
Sandeman left secondary school after completing Year 11 and then undertook a Certificate IV in Tertiary Preparation at TAFE’s Ourimbah Campus, along with studying singing at the Central Coast Conservatorium.
She started her first year of a Diploma of Visual Arts at Ourimbah TAFE at the beginning of 2020, while studying online for a TAFE Certificate III in Community Services.
Sandeman’s academic results showed her to be an outstanding student, but that has not been at the cost of community work.
She is an organiser for the Forty Hour Famine, a singer at charity events and has also been the receipt of an Australian Defence Force 2018 Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award.
Sandeman hopes to complete the Diploma while commencing a Bachelor of Secondary Education focussing on art-teaching at the University of Newcastle’s Ourimbah campus.
In addition, she hopes to do voluntary work in community arts with Central Coast Council, Covid controls permitting.
CCCF President, Sonnie Hopkins, said she was proud to be awarding Sandeman with the award.
“Ella exemplifies the sort of person we are keen to support,” Hopkins said.
“Although she gained official adulthood only the day before I interviewed her, she exhibits a very mature sense of vocation with deep community commitment.
“Ella recognises that study alongside voluntary activity constitutes a worthy path to career fulfilment.
“I asked Ella what song she most likes to perform and given her enthusiasm for both painting and singing, I was not surprised when she answered it was Over the Rainbow.”
Source:
Media Release Nov 13
TAFE NSW