Annette is a mentor and role model

Annette was a participant in one of the basic gardening courses run as part of an outreach program of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. When the course funding expired Annette, who lives in Armidale, agitated enthusiastically for the course to go online and it is now run through Nowra TAFE.

The course connects participants from around the state and a second component of the course is Mentoring in the community. This is a pathway for students who want to keep enrolling and supporting other learners from across the state.

Annette, now in her third semester, is a model student who has experienced adversity and is able to support others who struggle with literacy and mental health barriers. She is a committed learner who is a role model for the group. Annette inspires other participants to continue despite the barriers that they all face living in social housing where learning new skills and setting goals is a stretch when surviving the day to day can be a challenge.

Annette has been invited to join a tree planting group, has made connections with the local community hub in Armidale and has worked with them using the skills she has learnt in the class, and working with a range of community members,  helped to design and install a community garden onsite. Annette is reliable and consistent and has a calming influence on everyone.

Annette would like to continue studying a form of horticulture of regenerative agriculture and is developing a learning pathway to achieve this.