Aleeta Carmody was recently named the winner of the Regional Connection Award at the In2Science Awards Night.

In2Science is a Victoria-wide digital program connecting university students with school students to learn about the different pathways, offer some exposure into university life, and discuss areas of passion or interest.

A former Galen student and an eMentor of two years, Aleeta said she has been able to share her love and knowledge for science with aspiring scholars.

“I try to always figure out what my mentor needs,” she said.

“Some of them just need someone older than them to confide in or to figure out their paths, some just want to have a chat about stem topics.”

Science has always spoken to the inquisitive side of Aleeta, and it to her, it brings out and encourages that sense of curiosity.

“I’ve always been drawn to it,” Aleeta said.

“I always had good teachers for it in school."

When she was paired with her eMentor through the In2Science program in secondary school, she came to realise the myriad of pathway possibilities in the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

As an eMentor, she’s built an incredible rapport with her mentees and, for her, it’s all about paying that knowledge forward.

“I thought it would be great to be able to give back that opportunity to other students,” Aleeta said.

“I feel you can learn a lot from the program.

“It helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my career, what I wanted to study, and also just further developed my interests.”

She thanked the team at In2Science as well as her teacher Maree Timms, coordinator of STEM at Galen, who was very proud of her achievement.

Maree said the program, which Galen partnered with in 2016, has been fantastic for regional students especially those who may not get the chance to converse with university students.

“We normally get anywhere between three to six students doing it a year,” Maree said.

“Aleeta was one of those students when she was here at Galen, and she really enjoyed the program.

“She saw an advertisement to be a mentor and, since she enjoyed the program so much when she was at Galen, she decided she was going to give back.

“That’s what gives me a whole lot of pride, to see that she’s enjoyed the program but is now giving back.”