Ms Anna Chen1, Ms Martina Tan1
1Monash College, Docklands, Australia
Embarking on a journey on their own as an under 18 international student, whilst exciting, is a real test of a student’s readiness for independence, maturity and resilience.
This presentation will focus on the college’s in-house guardianship service and how we collaborate with support services and stakeholders to enhance student experience, engagement, a sense of belonging and achievement. We will share anecdotal findings of how the positive connections established through co-curricular strategies contribute to student success.
Biography:
Martina Tan
Martina’s passion has always been in Education – teaching the Gifted & Talented and Student Wellbeing. While teaching Geography at Raffles Institution (RI) in Singapore, she was Year Head in 2004 and Assistant Department Head of Gap Semester in 2013. She joined Monash College in 2016 as a pioneer member of the then newly set up U18 Guardianship Service and progressed to Team Leader in 2017. In 2022, she was appointed Manager of U18 Guardianship Service & Student Welfare.
When not at work, Martina sings in the choir and runs the Alpha course with her husband of 22 years in their church.
Anna Chen
Anna is the U18 Guardianship Service Team Leader at Monash College. She is enthusiastic about enriching the experiences of younger international students in their higher education journey. She enjoys creating meaningful connections with students and relishes the challenges that sometimes come with engaging teenagers. She has over ten years’ experience in this space and has been with the U18 Guardianship Service since it started in 2015. Anna is busy with her own young people when she is not at work.