Souths Cares are celebrating the achievements of one of the Liverpool Opportunity Hub’s 2021 HSC Graduates, Kaleasha Pattel who is commencing Undergraduate studies at Macquarie University in 2022.
Despite a challenging 2021 with COVID restrictions and the learning from home environment, Kaleasha excelled in all her subjects at Liverpool Girls High School, with a passion for music and legal studies and obtained an ATAR which gained her entry into a Bachelor of Media and Communications.
Kaleasha takes inspiration from her Uncle Bill Kearney who studied Law and is the only person from her family to attend University before her.
Kaleasha has been supported by the Liverpool Opportunity Hub since mid-2021 when Liverpool Girls High School joined the program and believes this extra support has been pivotal in achieving her educational goals.
“Having people from my culture, who understand our background is important and helped create a sense of belonging. By having older Aboriginal people such as the Souths Cares staff to remind of us our of culture and to be proud of ourselves really made a difference”, Kaleasha said.
Rhys Wesser is the Career & Education Pathways Advisor for the Opportunity Hub and explained he couldn’t be prouder of Kaleasha’s achievements.
“2021 was a challenging year for all students, but particularly for our Year 12 cohort which makes Kaleasha’s success even more significant. This is a new and exciting chapter for Kaleasha as she follows in her Uncle Bill’s footsteps in starting her journey into higher education”.
Looking ahead to the future, Kaleasha hopes to secure a corporate internship, complete an Honours Degree and then explore postgraduate study further abroad.
Kaleasha had this advice for other young people considering University. “It’s good to be hard on yourself but don’t be too hard on yourself. If you commit to your goals and put the effort in, you’ll be amazed what you can achieve”.
