Words by Argyle Housing Client Ruby Mikolaitis
Hi. I’m Ruby. I’m currently studying at Bachelor of Communications and Media with a Bachelor of Arts My three majors are journalism, politics and theatre, and I am a resident of Argyle Housing. So, I graduated from high school in 2017 and I went straight to uni in 2018.
I think one of the best moments of my life was when I found out that I got accepted at uni. I remember it was 2016. I had just finished my HSC major for drama, and I actually had an interview scheduled with the Dean of Arts a couple of hours after I had finished. I was so nervous; I had this giant folio of papers because I was going for a degree that was communications and media based.
They were asking for a portfolio. So, I had like a stack of papers on this train, a bunch of pictures of all of the volunteer work that I did when I was in high school and then speaking to the Dean and she was asking all these questions I wasn’t prepared for and afterwards she handed me the package and she said, “Yeah, I’ve accepted you. I’m very grateful for you to be at this uni and welcome.” And I just remember, like, fireworks exploding in my heart. I was so grateful; I was so happy and that to this day I think is still one of the best moments I’ve had in my life thus far.
Currently, I’m a social media coordinator for a Wollondilly, not for profit organisation called, The Butterfly Institute, and they provide counselling and advocacy for survivors of sexual trauma. So, I volunteer for that and I feel so grateful to be part of that organisation. I was also part of the rally in Canberra for gender violence against women. That was a very powerful moment for me.
My advice to is just to start somewhere, if you are overwhelmed and you feel like you have multiple options or you want to do something and worried that it might change in the future. You can always change it later, but if you start somewhere, you’re setting those foundations and those skills for yourself that are easily transferable into different avenues and different career paths later in life.