Student Highlights
Flexibility and empowerment in the Bachelor of Science

While Jennifer had a difficult upbringing, she never wavered in her plans to go to university and study chemistry.

“All I knew was that I really loved chemistry. I just couldn’t get it out of my head. The way you could mix something and change its form.

“And my love only grew more and more as I completed my HSC. I remember after an assessment realising that I could do this for the rest of my life and be happy,” she said.

Jennifer followed her passion to the University of Newcastle, finding an accepting and positive atmosphere.

“I met likeminded people who were passionate about what I was passionate about. They were just as crazy and weird as me.

“I felt empowered in my classes and out of classes. I joined the queer collective and felt the most connected than I ever had with people.

“And through another student at the University, I discovered that I had signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD),” she said.

Jennifer describes her diagnosis as a surreal experience, as she was finally able to understand how to articulate her experience to others.

However, Jennifer did struggle with the label at times, feeling like there was something ‘wrong’ with her.

That was until a staff member pointed her toward AccessAbility.

“In the beginning, I didn’t know anything about ASD and how it affected how I learnt; how my experiences with coursework differed from other students, but AccessAbility made me realise this.

“I talked with my Learning Advisor, and she made me see that adjustments could be made to make it easier for me. For the first time in my life, I felt like I wasn't doing everything on my own.

“I was empowered by my knowledge of the support of staff from the University and felt like I could give back; I could contribute to something bigger than myself,” Jennifer said.

Now inspired to make a difference for students with diverse lived experiences, Jennifer was able to contribute to event management projects and institutional documents, ensuring they used inclusive language that students identified with.

“The University of Newcastle took all of that in its stride and allowed me to be a student representative on the institutional Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee and also become the Convenor of the AccessAbility and Equity Collective,” she said.

Around this time, Jennifer met Bonnie McBain, Senior Lecturer from the Bachelor of Science degree.

“Unlike anyone else I have ever come across, Bonnie looked not at what I couldn’t do, but instead how she could support me.

“She enabled me to work within my boundaries and slowly gain the confidence to move out of them. Both Bonnie and another academic, Lachlan, demonstrated extreme flexibility and an extreme desire to listen.

“From a student's perspective, it just changes how you engage with the content because you have that freedom to learn. I began to see how I could utilise my ‘disabilities’ as strengths rather than weaknesses,” Jennifer said.

In Professional Employment Skills (SCIE2001), Jennifer was empowered to see her transferrable skills as both job and life experiences.

“I feel confident in an interview setting and I can take risks and apply for jobs even if I don’t think I will get them.

“I know I can be resilient because of what I have already been through.

“And now I have a job at the University too,” she said.

Jennifer also really enjoyed the Interdisciplinary Challenges (SCIE2002) program. Her team’s project, named ‘The Garden of Knowledge’ explored how the University of Newcastle could achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.

“We addressed our issue by creating a mental model for approaching carbon neutrality. We utilised the simplicity of a garden to show how it could be done—combining ideas of reducing carbon emissions, education, and offsetting carbon emissions.

“We felt that this was the best approach for our project as it took advantage of the unique culture of the University of Newcastle and its location in the Hunter.

“We created meta-analytical documentation to show evidence of our approach to problem-solving. We created value for our client by offering a prototype as proof of concept,” Jennifer said.

Jennifer is grateful for the opportunity to work on this project as she has been able to use it as evidence in job interviews of her ability to write professional and scientific documents.

She also enjoyed the ability to collaborate in problem solving

“The fact that the team wasn’t just from one discipline created a new depth to my understanding of communication.

“Because I did both biology and chemistry, which were different specialisations to my teammates, I was in an interesting position to communicate my own understanding to both of them.

“It was also very different from any other group work that I had done before because we were explicitly taught teamwork and communication skills through the process,” Jennifer said.

As part of her studies, Jennifer has also had the opportunity to undertake industry experience after receiving a summer scholarship.

Working with Dr Robert Chapman, Jennifer has been able to build industry specific skills, grow her industry connections and access specific industry equipment.

Jennifer’s advice to future science students is simple - “Enjoy the course, engage with the other opportunities that present themselves, and don’t be afraid to engage with all sciences, not just your specific discipline.”

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Jennifer Lowe

While Jennifer had a difficult upbringing, she never wavered in her plans to go to university and study chemistry.

I was empowered by my knowledge of the support of staff from the University and felt like I could give back; I could contribute to something bigger than myself.