Harvey at school in Australia whist on his gap year with Lattitude Global Volunteering
Harvey Jupp, 20, thought he knew what he wanted from life when he left school, but a gap year placement with Lattitude Global Volunteering flipped the youngster’s life 180 degrees which now sees him set to embark on a life in Oz.
Back in 2009, Harvey was embarking on his final year of college. His UCAS application underway, he primarily wanted a break before going to University. Having gained a provisional place at Brighton University to study Product Design, Harvey set about looking for a project for his gap year.
Harvey applied to a placement with Lattitude Global Volunteering as working in Australia was something he’d always wanted to do. After an in-depth matching process he was placed as a teaching assistant in Kormilda college, Darwin, a school predominantly for Aboriginal children.
Here, Harvey explains how all his best-laid plans were literally turned ‘upside down’ after he left his heart in Australia:
“I had no intention to work with children as a career. The thought had never really crossed my mind. However, after spending 6 months working with Aboriginal children in Kormilda and discovering how brilliant they are, I am prepared to give up everything to get back to Australia and work with them for the rest of my life. A strong statement, I know, but it’s genuinely how I feel.”
“My placement at Kormilda ran from January-June 2011 and with every month I spent there, my feelings for the people, culture and country grew and grew.”
“When I got home in August I had to prepare myself for university. One day I found myself searching for accommodation on my laptop thinking ‘I can’t do this’. All my ambition to do a product design degree had left me completely because I had discovered something that I had a real passion for. It was this realisation that has changed my life and set me on a new path. I realised that working with Abooriginal kids is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I am fully determined and dedicated to make that happen.”
“The first seed of contemplation had been planted while I was still in Australia. I was asked the same question four times by four different staff members at Kormilda: ‘why are you going to do product design when you are so good with the kids?’. And for the first time after choosing the degree I couldn’t give an honest answer to justify it, nor explain why I had chosen it instead of something like a degree in teaching. It seemed obvious at that point that I was making a mistake and all I could say was ‘I don’t know.”
“So I contacted Kormilda telling them I wanted to return and they welcomed me back with a job. I contacted Charles Darwin university, submitted an application to study Aboriginal Law and Culture and within one week I got offered a place. I am due back in Darwin in January 2012.”
“I would not have achieved any of this without taking a placement through Lattitude Global Volunteering and, although I would have probably been happy doing my degree at Brighton, I would have continued to be completely unaware of how much better and different my life could be.”
“I strongly suggest that anyone reading this does a gap year too, because even though I can’t guarantee such a life-changing outcome I can guarantee that what you learn will be beyond anything you could imagine and you will have the best time of your life.”
Tags: Australia, university, university places