The Great UniSA 30th Anniversary Countdown

Great UniSA The 30th Anniversary Countdown

Volume One (30 – 26)

30 years. 30 Degrees. 30 students. 30 accomplishments.

The University of South Australia is turning 30! Here at Verse, we have chosen to celebrate the big 3-0 with a countdown. From 30 to 1, we are going through some of UniSA’s most compelling degrees from the perspectives of some of its most accomplished students. We are sitting down with an assortment of designers, aviators, writers and more to understand their biggest accomplishments amidst their study and how UniSA has helped them achieve some of their wildest dreams.

Photo Lucy Edwards by Niamh Wood

30 Lucy Edwards – Bachelor of Design: Communication Design My biggest accomplishment, so far, would have to be featuring as a Verse Magazine feature artist for Edition 36 and having my artwork on the front cover. Being on the cover of Edition 36 allowed me to feel like my work was starting to become real and recognised by the people/ industry around me. Also, it allowed me to get more work opportunities as well as build on my artistic style and further my love for digital art and collaging. [For further features of Lucy’s work in Edition 38, check out our front cover!]

29 Maria Ppiros – Bachelor of Design: Illustration and Animation (Honours) My biggest accomplishment at UniSA was the opportunity to do what I love while building my skill set, growing my knowledge-base and constantly improving my abilities. Receiving my invitation into the ‘Golden Key International Honour Society’ and attending the UniSA Chapter Induction Ceremony in 2019 were definitely highlights of my years at Uni SA. This award confirmed that hard work pays off! UniSA has positively impacted me in many ways! I thoroughly enjoy study and I love learning new things and keeping my brain stimulated. I found UniSA to be an encouraging, warm and welcoming place where I can focus on my education knowing I have many resources available to me. I also appreciate UniSA’s strong focus on preparing students for the real world. Each year of study at UniSA means I come one year closer to reaching my career goals! [For further features of Maria’s work in Edition 38, check out our USASA Club interview which includes Maria and her team, Illustrations and Animations Grad Show, on the topic of their exhibition, Hidden Worlds, on page 59-62]

28 Ezra Théodore Tillet – Bachelor of Arts: Applied Linguistics & Creative Writing and Literature I entered UniSA at a time when I was still coming to terms with who I was and where I stood in the world. UniSA has given me opportunities to be peers with fascinating people and discuss my passions with them, access scholars and resources that have allowed me to understand the complexities of my field and develop more robust perspectives and structured critique of my creative works. While studying at UniSA, I have been published; come out; written stacks of essays and shorts; made exceptional friends; discovered academic passions; honed my craft; and feel I have grown as a writer and as a person in many ways that I am very proud of.

Photo Ezra Théodore Tillet

Photo Tabitha Lean 27 Tabitha Lean (also known as Budhin Mingaan) – Master of Aboriginal Studies Starting a postgraduate degree has changed my life in so many ways. I started the degree from behind bars and continued when I came home. I will finish this degree as the first Aboriginal woman to attend a university from a South Australian prison. It is a huge personal achievement and I hope paves a pathway for Blak women who will come behind me; a liberatory pathway that has never been available to my people. I also conceived the Blak Out project and was convened the first all Aboriginal editorial team as guest Head Editor. [For further features of Tabitha’s work in Edition 38, check out her poem, A Memento Mori, on page 42]

26 Cameron Sanders – Bachelor of Aviation (Pilot) & a Graduate Diploma in Aviation Personally, my biggest accomplishment was my first solo flight. Looking back, it was only a drop in the hat compared to the complexity of the solo flights I do now. Although, at the time, it was a big step after only 14 lessons with an instructor, to fly the aircraft entirely by myself. It demonstrated to me the importance of self confidence in flying. On that day I had to push my nerves to the back of my mind and consciously tell myself I knew what I was doing. And doing so made me perform just as well as I hoped I would. It gave me a valuable skill that I think I will use throughout my career, the ability to rationalise my nerves and establish if they are necessary or reasonable and how I can use them to my advantage. It has helped me to tread a thin line between being confident enough to push myself to improve, yet nervous enough to be looking for my mistakes. [For further features of Cameron’s work in Edition 38, check out In[ter]view: The Aerodynamics of Realistic Imagination on page 26-30]