The College recently reconnected with聽Ben Willian (SPC 2010-15)聽who is now following his dreams of working in marketing and sales after gaining entry into a special program at university which聽 allowed him to learn valuable skills and experience with the uni鈥檚 marketing team.
Where has life taken you since leaving SPC?
I鈥檝e been studying the Bachelor of Business, Marketing and Management at Fed Uni in Ballarat and I recently graduated. During my time there, I was lucky enough to get into an IPP placement program so I was working full-time with the uni marketing team, sort of like an internship. From there, I managed to get more work, so I have been working at the uni a couple of days a week and in that time also, I started working at an advertising agency, RU Advertising, so I work there three days a week and at the university, two days a week, doing a bit of event planning for an open day coming up. My ambition is to be in marketing and sales.
What are your fondest memories of your time at St Patrick鈥檚 College?
Probably just the friendships and being around your friends. Now that I am working full-time, you don鈥檛 get to see your friends as much as you would like, so being able to at lunch-times, to catch up with your mates, were some of the greatest times I had. You take it for granted, I guess, when you鈥檙e at school. You know it鈥檚 sort of cool at the time, but then sometimes, you want to go out and earn some money and do some other stuff, but now that I鈥檓 working full-time, I wish I could go back to school and hang out with all those boys again! I keep in touch with a lot of them, not all of them, but most of them, because I鈥檓 from Ballarat and a lot of them are still around.
Which teacher from your time at SPC had the greatest impact on you? Why?
Probably Mr (Peter) Joyce. I connected with him really well. I had senior English classes with Mr Joyce. I wasn鈥檛 bad at English, but I wasn鈥檛 the greatest student and he helped me improve with my English.
How has your education shaped your professional life?
Definitely leading down the path and coming through St Patrick鈥檚, the school helped me to work out what I wanted to do. I had meetings with (the College Careers Coordinator) Mr (Anthony) Meehan about where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do and then coming from those meetings and catching up with other teachers, I worked out that I had a passion for marketing. My father has an advertising agency, so I鈥檝e grown up around marketing, and I worked out that this is what I want to do.
How has your time at SPC shaped your personal values and your family life?
I鈥檓 very family-oriented and I love my friends鈥� families, so I suppose from hanging out with people from St Patrick鈥檚 and learning the College鈥檚 values and goals too, I鈥檝e taken those in my own footsteps, and I try to be the sort of person that St Patrick鈥檚 brings the boys up to be.
If you could pass on one message to the students of today, what would it be?
Cherish the moments that you have at St Patrick鈥檚, because time flies and you don鈥檛 realise that until you leave.
