In April 2023, The George Alexander Foundation's newest scholarship recipients came together for the Commencing Scholar Welcome workshop.

After settling into the Zoom call with a couple of 'Would you rather' icebreakers, scholars from across Australia connected and shared their experiences of starting university.

The workshop was run by Ryan and Jet, fantastic facilitators from the Wake by Reach team and focused on the Heroes Journey and Masks, helpful frameworks for facing challenges and change.

As Ryan and Jet walked the group through activities and the stages of a Heroes Journey, scholars embraced playful challenges issued to the group and shared how the framework related to their own lives.

Three of the workshops many highlights include:

• Aaliah from Griffith University shared her journey of moving from Tasmania to Queensland to study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science.
• After a mystery challenge was issued to the group, Bryony from RMIT University jumped in to accept. The challenge was revealed to be 'teach the group something new', and Bryony ran a mini tutorial on imitating bird calls.  
• Jackson from Swinburne University shared where he wants to be in five years, working as an engineer in Queensland, and his philosophy for overcoming challenges, "keep moving forward and think to the future".

Thank you to all the scholars who could attend and contribute to the 2023 Commencing Scholar Welcome workshop.

The GAF team looks forward to seeing you and others in the GAF community at future Resilient Leaders Program workshops.