Alexis Bocking University of Canberra

Alexis is 20-years-old, studying Bachelor of the Built Environment (Architecture). She completed her Secondary Education at Erindale College. She has been diligent in her studies and in her community service. With Scouts, for ten years she has assisted at community fund-raising events, been on duty at ANZAC Day Parades and held significant leadership roles, including at Australian and New Zealand Jamborees (14-day camps). She was awarded the Australian Scout Medallion, which is the highest achievable award for Scouts up to 15 years-of-age. For many years she has also volunteered with St Vincent De Paul Society. At High School she was Captain of the Soccer Team both in regular season and school competitions. As well she was Futsal (Indoor Soccer) Captain for a Sydney competition. At Erindale College she was School representative, in year 12, at ANU Maths Day. When she commenced University, Alexis was elected to become the UC Architecture Society First Year Representative. She also volunteered to coach the Year 7 Oztag team at Radford College this year.

At home Alexis cares for her severely disabled Mother on a regular basis, taking her to medical appointments and assisting her to manage her health. It is a single-parent household, living in Public Housing. With little money, her mother always maintained that education could assist in breaking away from a low socio-economic way of life. Alexis turned this advice into reality by applying herself to excel in her studies. At Secondary School a work experience week convinced her that she had real potential for the Architecture profession and her passion was kindled. The next year, Alexis was included in the prestigious Honeywell Engineering Summer School involving 100 students from across ACT and NSW to examine the multiple areas of Engineering, which are important within the Built Environment sector. Her mind was made up! At University, in her first year, she entered two competitions, which included students from higher years, and came second each time. This led to a field placement opportunity with a noted architectural firm. Another project explored collaboration with Indigenous Communities in design processes so that future work will be culturally sensitive.

Alexis is the only person in her family preparing to enter the architectural world, so would be delighted to be introduced to a Mentor. Her GPA is 6.25 out of 7.0. Covid-19 has caused her two casual work places to close so this scholarship will be life-changing for her by allowing her “more time to study, greater time to observe and assist leaders in the field, opportunities to visit architectural sites (instead of googling them), and time to develop as a female role model”. In this way she will ‘give back’ to the profession