Roxy Robson
Art, Design and Architecture
Growing up in a small rural community in the southernmost part of Victoria, university never felt like an obvious pathway for Roxy.
The geographical distance from Melbourne presented many access barriers to higher education. For Roxy, this was further compounded by challenges that arrived far earlier for her than most.
While most teenagers were focusing on navigating school and friendships, Roxy was learning how to support herself. She worked at a local hotel throughout her teenage years, earning money for school clothes, food and everyday essentials. Much of adolescence was spent balancing adulthood and survival.
"It was more a challenge to get through every single day, rather than thinking about the bigger picture later down the line," Roxy says.
Managing chronic illness, studying outside a mainstream school environment and trying to complete VCE while supporting herself meant higher education often felt unattainable. The experience was isolating. There were few people her age facing similar circumstances, and even fewer examples of people from her community going on to university.
Yet, even amid instability, Roxy held onto the belief that life could become something bigger than the situation she was in.
Reaching Monash required determination and faith in a future she could not yet see. Moving to Melbourne and learning to navigate systems that many students take for granted meant stepping into an entirely new world.
Campus life introduced a huge range of new experiences and possibilities that was overwhelming at first. Initially, Roxy was quiet, sitting at the back of classrooms and unsure where she belonged.
That gradually changed.
Almost from the moment she arrived, Roxy began volunteering through the Monash Student Association and taking up opportunities to become involved in university life. Later, as an Education Officer, she found a way to turn lived experience into meaningful change, contributing to policy discussions and advocating for greater equity and accessibility in education.
No one else was doing it, so I thought, why not me? ”
Early in her degree, an educator shared something that fundamentally changed how Roxy saw herself: surviving difficult circumstances did not make her less worthy. Instead, she was encouraged to recognise her resilience as a strength and to see her experiences as an advantage rather than a limitation.
For years, Roxy had focused on comparing her own experiences with those around her. This educator helped reframe her perspective to view the challenges she had faced in the past not as barriers to participation, but rather as valuable lived-experience that could strengthen conversations and improve systems.
Roxy’s university experience so far has been one of change making and opportunity. Alongside her design studies, Roxy has represented Monash internationally, contributing to projects in Singapore, Fiji and Indonesia and has plans to travel to two more countries shortly.
“From growing up and basically never having a holiday to now being at university and being able to travel all over the world. It's just something I never imagined I'd be able to do,” she said.