Embracing curiosity around the world

Success is not final, failure is not fatal,  it is the courage to continue that counts’  – Sir Winston Churchill.

“WHEN Sir Winston was in his last days the Australian, New Zealand and the UK Governments spoke to him about what he wanted in his legacy,” CUC Bass Coast Centre Manager, Andrea Evans-McCall explained.

“He said that he wanted something like the Rhodes Scholar, but he wanted the average person to be able to participate; to learn globally and inspire locally.

“When you apply it’s your expertise and your passion, and  you’ve already had some dealings with programs in Australia to go and look at best practice overseas to bring it back.”

With the pandemic bringing the world to a halt, Andrea’s journey has been a number of years in the making.

“I completed my application and went through the selection process, which had to be undertaken via Zoom.

“I vividly remember losing my internet connection in my final interview. In a panic, I thought I had blown my chance! Once reconnected, I found the courage in the few minutes left to pitch my idea passionately.

“You can imagine my excitement and jubilation when in September 2020, I was announced as a Churchill Fellow. A colossal honour to be awarded this fellowship in the name of the great British Prime Minister and statesman Sir Winston Churchill.”

Kicking off in Toronto, Andrea is weaving her way around the world.

“I go to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal in Canada – looking at universities there, and then go down to Boston and also rural Massachusetts to look at community colleges and schools’ programs in Boston, and then on to Finland.

“I’m going to Helsinki, which is the education mecca, for me that was really exciting.

“From Finland I go to the UK, looking at a wonderful project called Project SEARCH in London.

“In a massive hospital in the East End they do internships for young people with a disability. They try different roles in the hospital and do an employment skills component. A lot of them go on to have full time employment at the hospital post school.

“Then to Cardiff in Wales, where I’m looking at the Welsh baccalaureate. It’s kind of like our VCE, but they have a large skills component where they have to do a lot of employability skills. It’s part of their prerequisite to apply to go on to university. It’s also really inclusive because they mentor the students that have learning barriers.”

As a Fellow creating her own study tour, Andrea connected with new and old associates around the world.

“It’s up to you to connect with people and build relationships to visit programs that are doing it well.”

Schools, community colleges, universities and community-based programs and not necessarily just those for young people.

“In my previous role, I was the National Disability Coordination Officer for Gippsland, which I did for eight years. In partnership with the three local learning and employment networks across Gippsland, I developed a program called the I Am Ready program: supporting students in secondary school.

“Having done a program similar, which is what really interests me, I thought it would be awesome to be able to go and actually see some of the other programs (around the world) in action.

“As a 2020 Fellow because of COVID I couldn’t travel.”

Putting her plans on hold until the Fellowship and countries permitted travel, Andrea will have a plethora of stories and knowledge up her sleeve upon her return.

“Because of COVID there’s almost 180 of us who have been waiting to go (over the past three years), so it has been exciting people going off now.

“That’s the wonderful thing about being a Churchill fellow – there’s been over 5000 people that have had a fellowship so there’s this huge alumnus. They have a Victorian branch and dinners where you get to go and meet all these interesting people.”

Offering a diverse range of people from all walks of life an opportunity to travel overseas for four to eight weeks to explore a topic or issue that they are passionate about, the proposed project topics are limitless for Churchill Fellows.

Projects only have to provide a benefit to Australia with evidence of fellows willing to share their findings with the Australian community.

“The fellowship allows me the most fantastic opportunity… over six weeks to experience innovative programs that develop employability skills for people with a disability in both community and educational settings.

“I will be networking and observing strategies, tools, and methods delivered internationally in authentic, fully integrated learning environments to see what lessons and insights can be brought back to influence thinking and inform practice in Australia.”

For more information on the Winston Churchill Fellowships visit churchilltrust.com.au