NIAMH’S SUN RISES
The Bond University journalism student has landed Channel 7’s Edwina Bartholomew as a mentor in her goal of a television career
SCORING one of her idols as a mentor has really been a dream come true for Bond University student Niamh Sullivan.
The 20-year-old journalism student was lucky enough to gain Edwina Bartholomew as her mentor after writing a profile piece on her career.
The pair then met in person at the Women in Media
Conference last year and stayed connected.
As an aspiring television journalist, Niamh has been interning at Channel 7 Gold Coast, which led to an offer from Bartholomew for work experience at Sunrise in August.
“Edwina emailed me and said, ‘Would love to have you at Sunrise, call me and I’ll sort it out’,” she said.
Niamh is looking forward to building on her skills and getting an insight into the job she wants to do one day.
“Her job would be my dream job, so having that opportunity while I’m still at university to see what she does at work every day and the whole process of Sunrise in general is a pretty cool opportunity,” she said.
As Niamh comes closer to finishing her degree at the end of the year, she thinks it’s important to make industry connections.
“You have to be good at your job, but you have to make those connections as well so that you can get there,” she said.
Bond University encourages students to have professional mentors with the alumni mentor program.
The program has been running since 2012 and aims to pair 70-120 students with Bond alumni in their chosen field every September.
While the program officially runs for a semester many students stay in contact with their mentors after it ends.
Film and Television student Vikki Hetherington participated in the program last year and has kept the connection with her mentor through LinkedIn.
“We stayed in contact via Skype as he lives in Berlin and had fortnightly chats about how I was going with classes and internships,” she said.
Vikki said her mentor gave her tips for her future career, including how to network and why it’s important, as well as making the most of her lecturers.
Program organiser Dee Chase believes mentoring is a vital service all universities should offer.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to get an understanding of what happens in the industry and what they need to know,” she said.