By Molly Magennis
A Braybrook College graduate has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to Melbourne University designed to help students succeed during their higher education studies.
Esther Lian was awarded a Hansen Scholarship, which is given to talented students who are experiencing financial difficulties which may make it difficult to access further study.
The gifted young student was originally born in Myanmar, arriving in Australia in 2014 with her family as refugees.
Ms Lian said she was proud of her achievement and said it will be something she looks back on in the future with pride.
“I feel like I actually achieved something great. It makes me feel good about myself,” she said.
Arriving in Australia at just 12 years old, Ms Lian said while she did know a little bit of English, it was very overwhelming.
“When I arrived here, everyone talked so fast, and most people were born here so I was so lost.”
“It was a bit overwhelming to the point that I talked to [my] teacher about it and [they] said, if you want you can repeat like year six in the next year.”
“I decided to do that so that I can build up my English to actually build my confidence because I was very quiet and when the teacher asked questions, even though I knew the answer, I didn’t want to say it because I might get the pronunciation wrong.”
Ms Lian is currently studying a Bachelor of Biomedicine, and has been at Melbourne University for about three weeks. She said she’s curious about learning more about the human body and how things evolve.
“I’m hoping to get into health related courses. Right now in my mind, I’m thinking of speech pathology, but I’m not sure.”
Going to University has always been a big goal for Ms Lian, particularly coming from a country like Myanmar, where military control has made it hard for students to further their education.
“Back in our country, as you know, in Myanmar right now, my cousins, they can’t go to uni anymore because of the corrupt government and the military,” Ms Lian said.
“And so education is something that we value a lot.”
“[My mum] always motivates us and says….always work hard and realize your potential.”
“[That’s] something I want to actually show her that, yes, I can do it.”
