WORLD HOME ECONOMICS DAY CELEBRATION
Queensland 2010 King and Amy O’Malley Scholars
Ellen Graham
Ellen Graham is currently a fourth-year student at QUT studying a Bachelor of Secondary Education majoring in Home Economics and Health Education. Ellen has always had an interest in home economics-related fields, including design, fashion, cooking and nutrition and has always displayed natural aptitude and creative flair in these areas. She attributes her creative abilities to her artistic upbringing with a heavy involvement in the arts, particularly music and dance. A career as a home economist or Home Economics teacher was her dream career throughout high school. Her passion for the subject stemmed from an inspirational senior Home Economics and Hospitality teacher and has since significantly evolved from a myriad of inspirational university lecturers and tutors.
Ellen highly values learning and academic achievement, driving and motivating her to succeed academically at university. Her values are reflected in her high Grade Point Average and awards she has received whilst at QUT. She received a Deans Scholar award for her achievements in 2008 and 2009 and also received two Vacation Research Experience Scholarships within the past two years. Over the 2009/2010 Summer Semester she worked as a research assistant on the NOURISH trial. The NOURISH trial, funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, is a randomised-controlled trial to implement and evaluate a community-based intervention to promote early feeding practices that will foster healthy food preferences and intake and preserve the innate capacity to self-regulate food intake in young children. Her awards and subsequent experiences have provided Ellen with an insight to the world of academia, something to which she hopes to aspire in the future.
Ellen is passionate about all three areas of Home Economics education: textiles, nutrition and food, and living environments. She maintains a firm belief that these three areas are reciprocal and create a holistic subject. She hopes to contribute to the home economics profession primarily through teaching, using her creative teaching practices to ignite a passion for the subject within her students. Ellen also has a drive to extend her contribution beyond the classroom with her ultimate career goal being to work towards a PhD.
Ellen feels privileged to have received a King and Amy O’Malley scholarship for a second time, and would like to sincerely thank the State Assessment Panel and Managing Trustees.
Erin Hobbins
Erin Hobbins is embarking on her first career change. She has been working as a chef since graduating from school in 2000. She decided to change her lifestyle and priorities to become a Home Economics teacher, given her experience as a chef and love of good food. Erin has worked in many areas of the hospitality industry, from cafes and pubs to five star hotels.
Erin has worked for, and met many, incredible people from all walks of life around the world. These experiences have made her more self confident and more tolerant towards people and work situations. She discovered, along her journey as a chef, that many people are dependent on advancing technologies for everyday needs, such as a healthy meal. She personally knows people, her age and younger, who cannot boil an egg. The health and obesity of Australians is something that is constantly brought to the attention of the population by the media, and for good reason. Something needs to be done, and Erin believes she can contribute towards this much-needed improvement, even if only starting at a high school level.
The choice of Home Economics was an easy decision for her, as it entails her passion and love for good food, and sharing this love to help educate people. Cooking is her craft and she is most comfortable in this environment. Erin has always enjoyed helping others develop and foster a love for healthy cooking, rather than seeing it as a chore in this fast-paced modern world.
The challenge of educating young people about the benefits of a good diet, and helping to adjust their mindsets from one where ‘healthy food is boring,’ is something she is eager to accomplish. Erin believes very strongly in re-establishing the capability of the next generation to be more self- sufficient and more responsible for their future health. She believes this capacity has diminished with the introduction of fast food since her parents’ and grand parents’ eras.
She is, as always, ready for a challenge and seems to be finding them regularly along her study path; this particularly includes textiles. Whilst Erin is not confident in the area of fashion or design, she is very willing to learn. She proudly sewed her first dress over the Christmas break under the wise tutelage of her mother, who has retained these life skills from her own Home Economics studies.
Twenty or thirty years ago, the tasks of cooking for a family, sewing clothes and mothercraft were all basic skills required for the ‘real world’. Erin believes these skills are needed now more than ever, and she hopes to do her part in helping future students re-acquire some of them, just as she has.
Fiona Gunthorpe
Fiona Gunthorpe is currently in her second year of studying a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Her major teaching area is Home Economics, with Business Communication and Technologies (BCT) as her second teaching area. Fiona has worked in the public service sector for over twenty years and brings valuable skills and life experiences to her new career as a Home Economics teacher.
Fiona has been inspired to make a career change for a variety of reasons. These include the attractiveness to balance her career aspirations, family commitments to her husband and three small children, and her desire to participate in higher education. She also wishes to combine her passions for home cooking and textiles with her personal strengths and love of helping people learn and achieve goals. Her belief in the philosophy and mission of the home economics profession is what cemented her commitment to the field of home economics.
Fiona’s decision to apply for a King and Amy O’Malley scholarship is based on her admiration and respect for King and Amy O’Malley and she is committed to upholding their belief ‘that a satisfying family life was crucial to the welfare of the nation and could not be achieved without effective management of the home’ (O’Malley Trust, 2009). Fiona is keen to promote Home Economics and believes it should be an essential curriculum item for all students in Australia. As a future in-service teacher, she aims to help prepare our youth to make informed choices to enhance their wellbeing in their daily lives, and encourage both genders to be involved in the care and nurturing of their children and maintaining their household. Her career goal is to be an inspirational teacher, to spark interests and passion in her students and help them plan pathways to achieve their career aspirations within hospitality, textile, fashion, and early childhood fields.
Fiona is a student member of HEIA and was involved in the planning of the HEIA(Q) 2009 pre-conference seminar and intends to be an active member and advocate for the field of home economics.
Sue Corley
Sue Corley is a fourth year education student at Queensland University of Technology, majoring in Home Economics with a secondary teaching area of Health. Sue has been rewarded in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for her academic performance by receiving the QUT Deans Scholar award. She was also awarded the King and Amy O’Malley Scholarship in 2009. Sue has come to university with a background in banking, parenting and community involvement. Sue is a parent of a child with a disability and this life-changing event provoked a questioning of what she wanted from life. This led Sue to pursue her lifelong ambition to teach and to teach something that she is passionate about—textiles and the importance of families and their wellbeing. Sue hopes her passion will instil a hunger in her students to learn and extend themselves to gain new knowledge as she has done herself.
Being part of a minority group has brought to the forefront her values of social justice, empathy and advocacy, and personal attributes that align with those of King and Amy O’Malley’s vision. Being an advocate is a role with which Sue is comfortable and which she believes will continue in her capacity as a teacher in voicing the importance of Home Economics within schools. Combining her life experience and the home economics three-fold focus of individual, family and community wellbeing, she hopes to provide students with an understanding of their place in their community and the world and, by doing so, develop an understanding of their personal responsibilities.
Tiarni Twyford
Tiarni Twyford was lucky enough to grow up in a very supportive environment, where she was encouraged to develop a number of life skills from two of the best teachers she ever met—her parents. Although her parents provided Tiarni with the best care and opportunities for the future, they also provided her with the opportunity to see that not everyone was as lucky as she had been, through fostering programs.
By her family fostering kids throughout her childhood, Tiarni was able to see the impact that teaching basic life skills could have on a person’s life. Despite the fact that she was very young at the time, it was clear to see the joy her parents got from making a difference in children’s lives, and it became something she too, one day, hoped to achieve.
After moving to the Gold Coast several years later, Tiarni started attending Aquinas College, where she developed a passion for hospitality and lifestyle studies. During her senior years of study she further developed this passion with the intent of following a career in the hospitality industry. After completing a Certificate III in Hospitality Operations, she realised the late hours and weekends were not something to which she was willing to commit for the rest of her life.
It was after this realisation that her Hospitality teacher pointed Tiarni in the direction of a Home Economics degree. The more she looked into the degree, the more it seemed like the only suitable one. It appealed to her, largely because it combined a love for food, health and sewing, as well as allowing Tiarni to incorporate her strong family values. However, the most encouraging factor in choosing this career path was the inspiration from her Hospitality teacher, who constantly encouraged, supported and left Tiarni in awe with her knowledge and the way she could captivate a class.
Tiarni is now just over a year into her studies to become a Home Economics educator, and she feels as though she has grown significantly and learnt a great deal. She has really enjoyed everything along the journey so far and, despite the enormous work load, is excited to see what the rest of the course has in store. Tiarni looks forward to the day when she is able to teach and pass on her passion for home economics to her own students, and inspire them in the same way her family and teachers did for her.
World Home Economics Day Celebration in Queensland
This year HEIA(Q) hosted an exciting and informative event for World Home Economics Day on Saturday 20 March at Dockside’s Landing Cafe, at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane. Nearly 60 guests began the morning with a toast to this special occasion before enjoying a delicious and decadent brunch. As can be imagined, it would have been quite daunting for the host venue to prepare a brunch for 60 home economics professionals, all with a keen eye and a keen sense of taste for beautifully presented and deliciously tasting food. We were not disappointed and noted with interest how a modern-day brunch has transitioned into a fusion of Western and Asian delights.
Cheryl Conroy officially introduced and congratulated, the King & Amy O’Malley Trust Scholarship winners for 2010. HEIA(Q) would like to congratulate QUT students Ellen Graham, Susan Corley, Erin Hobbins, Fiona Gunthorpe and Tiarni Twyford on their prestigious achievements. Sit was inspirational to hear the aspirations of these newcomers to the profession—their introductions are reported elsewhere in this newsletter. Susan Corley responded on behalf of the scholars, expressing their sincere thanks and pledging their commitment to the future of the home economics profession.
Queensland Food Literacy Project
Guest speaker Helen Vidgen, a senior public health nutritionist at Queensland Health, captivated our members with a thought-provoking presentation that explored the new Food Literacy Project being undertaken in South East Queensland. Helen explained that the venture seeks to identify the food literacy skills required by young people exposed to social disadvantage and disconnection in an effort to improve basic nutritional practices in their daily lives, to ultimately improve long term health outcomes for this demographic.
During the presentation Helen engaged the audience’s views as she unpacked the interactions that exist between food literacy skills and healthy eating behaviours, and critically we examined the debate that exists around food literacy definitions and its various interpretations. Finally, we looked at a proposed a set of recommendations emerging from the study, regarding critical success factors and strategies designed to improve food literacy competencies with young people. The session stirred much debate amongst members, and the project was received by home economists present from all fields of employment with interest. We look forward to hearing more about the project’s final conclusions. The findings regarding the link between food literacy skills and health promoting behaviours will have huge implications for the marketing of home economics in schools.
Following the guest presentation, some essential social networking took place amongst members outside in the lovely gardens of the venue.
The day concluded with the hosting of the HEIA(Q) Annual General Meeting, where members and guests reviewed and acknowledged the roles and tasks carried out by the executive committee of management during 2009.
Kylie King
HEIA(Q) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 20 March, 12.00–12.30pm
The Landing at Dockside
44 Ferry Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Tel/Fax: 1800 446 841
Email: heiaq@heia.com.au
At the Annual general Meeting, the Committee of Management experienced a transformation, with some members exiting and new members joining. Sadly, we bid farewell to Sue Going and Deanna Dean and thank them for their valuable contributions to the Institute. Two new members were elected as members of the Committee of Management, Fiona Gunthorpe and Erin Cleary. They join continuing members Jan Reynolds, Denise McManus, Yve Rutch, Louise Borg and Naomi Holley. Also returning to their positions are Kylie King as President, Vicki Potter as Vice-President, Rosie Sciacca as Secretary, Debbie Cain as Treasurer and Aileen Lockhart as Delegate to National Council.
The Committee of Management now comprises a diversely experienced team, in which the combination of young, establishing members and experienced members will come together to create an effective and sustainable Committee of Management dedicated to supporting its members and advocating for home economics.
2009 Teacher Excellence Awards
TOE-winners.jpg)
Congratulations to Renae Bradbury and Margaret Duncan - READ MORE
2009 Conference
The HEIA(Q) 2009 conference -
Home economics, creativity at work
- was held on 8 August 2009 at the Brisbane
Convention and Exhibition Centre. Read on for a report on the conference and some photos showing what happened.
