One Year Out

When Nadia graduated in 2025, she wasn’t entirely sure what would come next. Her VCE subjects were largely arts-based, but over time she began considering other possibilities. Having always loved cars, Nadia ranked Mechanical Engineering at RMIT and Design (Engineering) at the University of Melbourne at the top of her university preferences.

Nadia was offered more than one place at university, but the opportunity to live in a residential college at Melbourne Uni was the deciding factor. What followed was a year of new experiences, new responsibilities and a level of independence that challenged her in all the best ways. Moving away from home and joining a community of roughly 350 people she’d never met pushed her well beyond her comfort zone. 

The flexibility of her course lets Nadia explore different disciplines before deciding exactly where she wants her degree to take her. The mixture of engineering and construction subjects has reinforced the idea that life and careers don’t have to follow one straight line. Unpredictable opportunities can come from unpredictable places. 

One such opportunity came through Melbourne University Racing (MUR), the University’s Formula SAE team. Each year, students design and build a Formula-style race car from scratch and compete against universities from across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Nadia joined the team and many of her standout experiences have followed from there.

As a member of the Uni’s media team, she photographs sponsor visits, workshop sessions, testing days and track events. Her love of cars, combined with the creative and media skills she took from Woodleigh, has given her firsthand experience working in a professional team environment. She says her most valued lessons from Woodleigh are not just academic ones. Self-directed learning meant she began university life ready to take responsibility for her workload and time management, and to ask for help when she needs it.

“One of the things I’m most grateful for about Woodleigh is that I never felt pressured into following one particular pathway or believing that my ATAR would determine my future,” she says. 

Exploring interests, working hard and staying open to possibility gave her the confidence to move from the arts to engineering, and that’s the advice she shares with others about to leave school. You don’t need to have your whole future planned out when you finish Year 12,” she says. “You never know where different opportunities might lead.” 

Looking back on her first year post-Woodleigh, Nadia says: get involved. She’s found new friendships, new skills and new opportunities she couldn’t have predicted. The more she puts into university life, the more comes back. 

As for the future, she’s keeping an open mind. While further study in Mechanical Engineering or Construction Management is possible, Nadia is okay with not having all the answers about her future mapped out yet. So far, the unknown hasn’t let her down.