Zeinah and Kangan Batman are winners in the Premiers VCE Awards
4 June 2004
The Premier's VCE Awards give the most prestigious recognition to the achievements of individual VCE students.
When Zeinah Alman received her VCE Award from the Premier Steve Bracks, in May, she was a long way from the unhappy Year 11 student who thought she would never get to reach her potential.
Zeinah, 18, of Broadmeadows, won the Premiers VCE Award for achieving one of the highest individual subject scores in Contemporary Australian Society.
Zeinah made the move to study Year 12 at Kangan Batman Institute of TAFE at Broadmeadows at the start of 2003. Her older sister Lobna had done this too and now her younger sister, Soumiaa, is studying for her VCE at Kangan Batman.
Zeinah was born in Australia. After the family of nine spent three years in Lebanon, she came back to Melbourne at the age of 14. Full of ambition to do well academically, she felt depressed by the environment at secondary school where few other students were serious about studying and there were many distractions.
"My older sister Lobna completed VCE at Kangan Batman and did very well. She is now 22, married with two children and is studying a Bachelor of Social Science at Latrobe. She really enjoyed Kangan and that was what convinced me to go there too.
"I thought I was really wasting my time at school. At TAFE the whole atmosphere was different. I was happy. Everyone studying was there for a reason - because they wanted to pass and achieve. It was more professional, more serious. The classes were not as big as at secondary school and there was no wasting time."
"The staff were sensational. I studied Psychology, Literature, Human Development, Legal Studies and Contemporary Australian Society. I am not sure what career I will pursue but I am really enjoying studying for a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies at RMIT University."
Zeinah won from hundreds of students studying the subject in public and private schools across Victoria. She is also the second student in the past three years from a VCE Contemporary Australian Society class at Kangan Batman to have won a Premiers Award, which the TAFE is very proud of.
Zeinah's teacher Mark Robinson said, "There is a symbolic importance to this award. Zeinah is a modern woman. The achievements of Zeinah and her sisters show just how much they have to offer our society."
Mark thinks TAFE has advantages for many students:
"We encourage an open, cooperative culture at Kangan Batman. Younger students often respond very well in classes with adults and the adult students enjoy the vitality of the younger students. Last year when Zeinah did her VCE about half our 200 VCE students were of VCE age and the other half were adults.
"Many TAFEs no longer offer VCE but we know it's a real strength of Kangan Batman and it is great for the region.
"With Kangan Batman continuing to offer the VCE and increasing its involvement in VCAL and VET, it means we are helping more and more students with their education and careers," Mark said.
VCAL - the new Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, and VET - Vocational Education and Training - means that students can start a traineeship or apprenticeship at TAFE and count it towards their VCE.
For specific information on the VCE at Kangan Batman Institute of TAFE
Contact Mark Robinson, VCE coordinator (03) 9279 2350.
