Sumayyah

As the daughter of Indian immigrants, I've never felt I truly belonged anywhere.

I've seen this be the case for many of my friends as well; that we're too ethnic for western Australians, but not ethnic enough for our cultural communities.

This is where Happy Brain Education (HBE) has gone above and beyond for me.

Any academic institution can invest in your dreams, but it takes character and a great deal of introspection to invest in a person beyond their ambitions.

HBE's initiative is a testament to this.

They look at your experiences and invest in your story.

That's not to say that they don't address academics – in fact, I remember being 1–2 weeks ahead of classmates because of HBE's accelerated curriculum – but more to say that HBE underscores the barriers to holistic youth empowerment.

And at the forefront of this initiative, lies the barrier to affordable education; an issue that HBE tackles through their scholarship program.

My family has never been financially stable, and so I never thought that I'd be able to receive tutoring during VCE.

Knowing that I couldn't receive the same quality of education as my friends and classmates, was an indescribable experience.

So, I don't think I can aptly put into words just how much HBE's scholarship program meant to me.

Beyond academics, they connected me to people who shared my insecurities, and helped me find a community.

In the midst of the chaos of VCE, I found solace in the HBE community, and it continues to be a place that I feel I both belong to and am recognised in.

The most valuable part of the scholarship program to me was being paired with a mentor.

I've had other mentor figures before, but what stood out about this relationship was that my mentor had experienced my struggles.

Seeing someone who'd actually lived my story and persevered, made me trust in a system that had never before worked for me.

And above all else, this is how HBE gave me hope for a future as good as my peers.

HBE is a community that consistently advocates for equitable education, and its scholarship program holds the potential to empower those that have been systematically disadvantaged.