By Natalie Gallenti
WHEN young Nathan Damjan left school at only 14, he never would have believed that only two years on he would be enjoying life as a student at Victoria University.
The Maidstone resident is completing the Mumgu-Dhal Tyama-Tiyt three-year course at the St Albans campus, which offers Indigenous participants a chance to enter the educational system and provides a pathway into further education and employment.
And after his first 12 months, the motivated student said he was looking forward to another two years of schooling and a career designing web pages.
“I left school and I was doing nothing with my life, so I thought I would do a course,” he said.
“I’m really enjoying it.
“It’s good to be around people of my culture.”
The motivated teenager spoke to Star at the opening of Grasslands Dreaming – a garden the students developed in conjunction with Iramoo Nursery and inspired by Indigenous landscape.
“The garden was the best part of the course, and finding out our family tree,” he said.
“My culture is really important to me and I understand it a lot better now.”
The 16-year-old said he never thought he would be given the opportunity to learn in such a comfortable environment and thrived on the challenges studying posed.
