UNSW Co-op alumni share professional insights at Leadership Camp
“Sometimes you just need someone who has stood in a particular pair of shoes to show you the next steps.”
The 2019 Co-op Scholar cohort has just returned from the program’s annual Leadership Camp in the Southern Highlands, with this year’s camp including a special twist.
Since the first scholar intake of the Co-op Program in 1988, our students have undertaken an annual three-day development program to better understand their own communication and leadership styles, and how to maximise that to work effectively within diverse teams.
The Co-op Program is UNSW’s career development scholarship for high potential undergraduate students. It offers industry training, leadership and professional development, networking opportunities, mentoring and financial support to high potential students in Business, Engineering and Science programs at UNSW. Previous scholars include Atlassian’s Scott Farquhar and Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Zaoud.
Many Co-op scholars and alumni have described the annual camp as the best memory they have from their time with the program.
In addition to the usual camp activities, this year’s scholars had the benefit of insight from Co-op Alumni Calvin Ng (2002 cohort, Computer Science) and Lambert Kiang (2004 cohort, Business Information Technology) who shared memories from their time in the program, and their experiences managing and working across industry sectors since graduation.
Calvin, who is now Head of Data Quality and Linkage at Equifax Australia, commented: “the lessons from the camp still resonate with me and my work every day and it's great to have a refresher after all these years!"
“The Leadership Camp has to be the highlight of my Co-op experience - the camp challenged us in lateral thinking, teamwork and organisational skills, while doing so in a unique and fun way,” Calvin has said of the camp. “It was a great place to get to know the scholars from other disciplines as well. I still encounter situations at work today that make me remember the lessons learnt from that camp.”
Lambert shared his own diverse, real-world experience, from roles at established corporations through the strategic leadership of a growing start-up. His experiences illuminated the very real and practical lessons woven into the activities on camp. His own service leadership style was perfectly captured in his willingness to make time to mentor and work with current scholars.
“Sometimes you just need someone who has stood in a particular pair of shoes to show you the next 10 steps, so you can walk a mile,” Lambert said.
This sentiment is echoed by the Co-op team’s belief that often their alumni are their greatest partners in the education of the next generation of Co-op scholars.
Co-op alumni go on to do great and interesting things across a variety of sectors, and include Scott Farquhar (Business Information Technology; Co-founder Atlassian), Sarah Johnson (Actuarial Studies; NDIS - Australian Actuary of the Year 2016), Rob Hango-Zada & Will On (Business Information Technology; Co-founders Shippit), and Mohammed Zaoud (Marketing; Head of Digital Content Strategy at Al Jazeera) and Darcy Small (Photovoltaics; Cofounder of social enterprise The Bugisu Project).
If you are a Co-op Program alumnus and would like to reconnect with the program and engage as a mentor, interview panellist or speaker - please contact cooprog@unsw.edu.au.