When Kathy Kettle talks about how TAFE changed her son Will’s life, you can hear the raw emotion in her voice. “He just went from strength to strength to strength,” Kathy says. “Chisholm was our lifesaver. Without Chisholm, I don’t know what would have happened.”
At high school, Will was bullied terribly. Being the quiet kid, he proved an easy target. “I’d literally spend every day at lunch behind my locker bay on my phone, then I’d get in trouble for being on my phone,” Will says. “My parents could tell I was unhappy. I would be terrible when I came home – really upset and just done with everything. I could not concentrate at school at all.”
When a teacher suggested Will would thrive at TAFE, Kathy decided to look into it. “The first term in year 10 he was wanting to drop out of school,” Kathy says. “We knew he was very academic, and he’d been suffering in that area as well. We quickly got him in for an interview at Chisholm, and he was accepted straight away.”
The difference in Will was immediate. “Once he started going to Chisholm, he just loved going to school,” says Kathy. “He couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and get to Chisholm. He was a whole different person.”
Will went on to finish year 10, VCAL Intermediate and VCAL Senior (now called VCE Vocational Major) at Chisholm. “The fresh start really helped me and a lot of the students were a lot more friendly too,” says Will. “They weren’t your normal school bully types. They were really good people and a lot of them had been through similar things.”
Aside from the social element, Will says he loved the learning environment. “The teachers were just amazing. I could go to them whenever I had any issues and things got sorted really quickly.”
Will also responded well to the style of teaching and assessment. “At school, whenever I’d try to get creative with my assignments, I’d be told ‘that’s not what you’re meant to do’,” says Will. “With the work I was doing in VCAL, I could literally put my own spin on everything, which I absolutely loved, especially with literacy. I love writing and being creative, and this really got my creative juices flowing.”
Whilst studying, Will began volunteering at The Briars in Mount Martha, and that’s where he found his real calling. He went on to complete a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management in Morwell before landing his dream job working with Latrobe City Council.
“I absolutely love it,” Will says. “I’m working with the bush crew at the moment and the work is really diverse. Some days we will be spraying all day, or we might do some spraying and mulching. One of my favourite things is mass planting trees and grasses.”
Will says his message to other young people who may be struggling in a mainstream school setting is to remember there are alternatives. “Hold on and know that things are going to get better,” he says. “Keep your options open, look for new pathways, because there are so many better things out there. For me, TAFE was just amazing – it literally changed my life. I have become such a better, more positive person because of it and I don’t feel that I would have otherwise. Even to this day, I look back and it’s just mind-blowing how much better it was than school.”
As for Kathy, she could not be prouder of her son and how far he’s come. “Chisholm was the answer to our prayers for Will,” she says. “It was the best thing we could have ever hoped for and now he’s in a job that he absolutely loves. He’s a happy young man and that’s thanks to Chisholm.”
Is a traditional school setting just not for you? That’s okay. Join Will and others who’ve chosen TAFE to reach the same destination, in a slightly different way. Learn more about VCE and VCE Vocational Major at chisholm.edu.au/vce.