Tiarna Condren, a high-performing Deniliquin High School student who graduated last year, has her sights on a career in the broadcast media reporting on politics.
She has been accepted into the renowned journalism school at RMIT Melbourne, but primarily for financial reasons needed to take a ‘gap’ year.
That’s where Intereach came into the picture. It has employed Tiarna through local training provider Murray Mallee Training Co., and she will complete a Certificate III in Business Administration throughout 2020.
Tiarna will greet customers at the front desk of the Intereach office in Trickett St, and help link them to local services through the Intereach Community Links program.
Community Links has been developed to help anyone accessing Intereach services to find the right assistance for their needs, and the ‘Linkers’ help by discussing what Intereach can do to support each individual’s situation.
Tiarna is excited about her year ahead.
‘‘After graduating from high school I needed a driving force to push me through my gap year and help me out financially.
‘‘This traineeship is perfect to expand my skillset, communication skills and knowledge. It will help lay the foundations for my tertiary education when I attend RMIT from February next year, studying a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism).”
Intereach general manager operations Sam Hall said as well as providing community service support, it was important the organisation helped develop career pathways for local young people.
‘‘We want to continue our progress as an employer of choice in the Deniliquin region and beyond, and to achieve this we need to provide employment opportunities for our future leaders who are just entering the workforce,’’ he said.
‘‘We also want to continue building our relationship with local education providers such as Deniliquin High School; these partnerships will benefit the school, the graduating students and Intereach.’’
Tiarna spent her entire secondary education at Deniliquin High School, and before that was in Kindergarten to Year 6 at Deniliquin South School.
Throughout her years of local education she showed a keen interest in debating, public speaking and academic competitions and said she had ‘‘always been fascinated with politics and the media’’.
This led to her being selected for the Rotary Adventure In Citizenship program in 2018, during which she spent a week getting an ‘inside look’ at Parliament House.
Perhaps Tiarna will be the next Leigh Sales or Laura Tingle? And all thanks to the start she is receiving, firstly at two Deniliquin schools and now at Intereach.
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