Michelle Black

Associate

My story

Back in early 2000, "Sustainable Development" began for me as a rather intriguing study option staring back at me from the pages of the Murdoch University course handbook. Before then, I was not at all familiar with this concept. I would say that growing up I had a fairly strong "social conscience", and an interest in environmental issues, but neither of these coincidental factors were the driving force behind my decision to pursue sustainable development. The inherent ideas of "integration" and "making a difference" certainly resonated with me the most, but overall, I just thought "this makes a lot of sense - I want to know more". And so the learning journey began.

It excites me to say that six years on, I have moved a little further down that pathway, which is strewn with a diversity of experiences, a range of interesting characters, a crack at an Honours thesis, and overall, lots of good times. However, some critical episodes in this series warrant a starting mention because they have had profound impacts on the way things have turned out.

During my second undergraduate year, I recall the emphatic exclamations of a particular lecturer - "you need to show initiative and put yourself out there now"; make contact with prospective employers, do volunteer work to demonstrate your capabilities. In other words, get networking! Now, this absolutely freaked me out at first, but not for long. I simply made a decision to start slowly, and immediately.

So from regular volunteer tour guiding at an environmental education centre (2002 - 2003) to involvement in Western Australia's State Sustainability Strategy (2002 - 2003), these activities led to an exciting and challenging opportunity through participation in Murdoch's Structured Workplace Learning Program (2003). This program gives students the opportunity to complete a 6-month work placement during their final year of study, and is designed to integrate classroom theory with real experience in the workplace, building their skills and increasing their confidence. I examined options and developed recommendations for bringing various stakeholders together to enhance the relevance of science in secondary schools. This was also an interesting opportunity for me to look at some sustainability connections in areas previously unsought, but that's another story. Most significantly, the networking opportunities from this experience subsequently led to meaningful employment with Sustainable Consulting, where the learning journey continues.

Since joining Sustainable Consulting in early 2004, I have found a platform for refining the skills I acquired through university and volunteer work. These include research, analysis and communication skills, and teamwork and public speaking abilities - but also the skills associated with applying these to sustainability projects - such as group facilitation, planning, project management and stakeholder alignment.