Had she not received a scholarship, Melanie Fehlberg believes she would still be only dreaming of a career in the field she loves.
Instead, thanks to the financial support from the George Alexander Foundation, Melanie completed RMIT’s Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) and now works with families in Melbourne’s inner north.
It’s easy to imagine George Alexander would have appreciated some of the parallels between his own life and this recipient of his eponymous scholarship. Like George, Melanie left school at an early age and had experienced her fair share of hardship by the time she entered tertiary education.
She had two children in her early 20s, separated, survived domestic violence in her next relationship then spent a year recovering before commencing further study. The way Melanie describes it, she enrolled in a Diploma of Social Work “on a whim”, but it’s easy to recognise the passion and self-determination that George Alexander would have understood and admired.
“I quickly discovered that I loved study and had found my people and my direction in life. It was incredible to me to learn the theories and framework around what I believed and knew from experience,” Melanie remembered.
The next step was RMIT’s Bachelor of Social Work (Honours). Melanie embraced the challenge of full-time study and part-time work while sole-parenting two teenagers, but the lengthy field placements required in the final two years of the course – together with cost-of-living increases – would have created insurmountable pressure.
Left: RMIT’s Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) student Melanie
While placements provide invaluable experience, it can be difficult to maintain a job around the hours required.
“During the second placement, in fourth year, we are also doing our honours thesis. It would have been impossible,” remembers Melanie.
The only reason I was able to keep going was because of the George Alexander Scholarship.
Melanie also found time to volunteer during her studies and served on the Student Representative Council, demonstrating qualities of leadership and community involvement – both of which were highly regarded by the George Alexander Foundation.
The foundation that began with a gift of $30,000 in 1972 has grown to be one of the largest private scholarship schemes in Australia, disbursing $2 million each year and boasting an alumni community of more than 1000 recipients.
A modest man who preferred a behind-the-scenes role in the foundation before his death in 2008, George Alexander had few provisos for the original governors beyond a desire to help young people who may not have been able to fulfil their capability without financial assistance.
He understood the importance of education in his own transformation from the impoverished boy who came to Australia in 1926 in the Big Brother migrant scheme to that of successful engineer, inventor and entrepreneur.
Studying at RMIT with the help of the scholarship has opened new worlds of personal, professional and financial opportunity for Melanie, who graduated with first-class honours and was included on the Vice-Chancellor’s List.
“It’s the best thing I have ever done,” she said.
RMIT has been wonderful. The staff are dynamic, they want to hear student opinions and are open to changing things. We’ve had amazing support during the course and great clinical supervision while on placements.
While her scholarly motivation never dimmed, she has been pleasantly surprised by the professional applications of the course.
“I was a student because I loved it. It never really occurred to me that I could earn good money working in this area that I am so interested in,” she said.
“The job opportunities are beyond what I dreamed of.”
You can imagine George Alexander appreciating that too.
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