I knew I had to step-up out of my comfort zone if I was to achieve my goal

15th January, 2021 | By Jivaughn - Heywire | 2 min read

I am a Yawuru Nyigina boy living in Broome-town.

The relaxed lifestyle up here, full of fishing, footy and hunting, is something I’ve always enjoyed, but I’ve always struggled at school.

I failed many of my NAPLAN tests and was often late to class.

I hardly ever handed in my homework and I’m pretty sure some teachers didn’t even know what I sounded like because I barely spoke in class.

But I knew I had to step-up out of my comfort zone if I was to achieve my goal of one day going to university.

Out of all my family, only my nanna has been to uni — she’s an inspiration to me.

She tells me her story of how she left Broome in the 90s to go to Perth to study nursing.

For six long years she worked hard to reach her Bachelor of Applied Science.

She worked that hard that she won a Vice Chancellor’s award for being in the top 1 per cent of all students!

She’s an inspiration for me to do better at school.

So I started showing up on time and paying more attention.

I even handed my homework in and interacted with the teachers.

After that, they put me up in higher classes!

In Year Nine I put my hand up to be a student councillor, where I helped with school carnivals and school balls.

In Year 10 I got to go on a leadership camp to Japan.

We took the Year 7 students over and I was part of the leadership team.

I learnt so much on that trip, not just about Japanese culture, but about being a leader.

I have joined an after-school program called Follow The Dream.

It’s a space for students to stay back after school to focus on their subjects with some help from the teachers.

Each day I feel I’m getting closer to my dream of going to uni, and I’m on track to complete Year 12 with flying colours.

With lots of passion and hard work, one day there will be two people from my family that will have attended university; Nanna and me!

Jivaughn was a 2020 Heywire winner from Broome, Western Australia

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