Summer Dean

Arts

Summer grew up in a rural community in New South Wales. While many young people in her region chose to stay close to home, entering the workforce or pursuing vocational pathways, Summer imagined a different future for herself.

From a young age, she dreamed of becoming a police officer. She also wanted to study at university, but those ambitions felt distant. As the first person in her family to consider university, there was no roadmap to follow and few people around her who could show her what higher education might look like.

Her family didn’t see university as something that fit her, as it had never been somethat that had been in their lives. “It was very scary for them to be really unfamiliar with where my life was going and what my life meant,” she said.

Education was something that she would need to pursue herself if she was going to succeed. Throughout school, she made the most of every opportunity available to her, putting her hand up for leadership roles and pushing herself to be visible, even when she doubted her own abilities.

"It felt hard to want something so badly while being supported by myself," she says.

After finishing Year 12, Summer took a gap year. Without the confidence that she belonged at university, she began to wonder whether a different future might be easier. As friends moved away to study and shared stories about classes, new friendships and life in Melbourne, she found herself questioning what she wanted for her own future.

"The further I got into my gap year, the more I realised I could be making new friends and learning," she says.

Then, almost by accident, she discovered Monash's Criminology and Policing degree. For the first time, she could see a pathway that brought together both of her ambitions: studying at university while pursuing her childhood dream of policing.

Even so, saying yes to Monash meant leaving everything she had ever known.

Moving to Melbourne was the biggest change of Summer's life. She left behind her family, siblings and hometown, stepping into a city that felt both exciting and overwhelming. The first weeks were difficult. She called home constantly and struggled with the quiet of living away from her family for the first time. Slowly, she began building a life of her own: learning to cook, exploring Melbourne, taking herself out for coffee and discovering who she wanted to become.

The turning point came sooner than she expected.

After her very first class at Monash, Summer walked out feeling something she had never experienced before.

I left feeling proud of myself and accomplished. I felt like I had finally made it. ”

That sense of belonging deepened during her first semester when one of her educators asked her to stay back after class. Knowing that Summer had been anxious about moving away from home and starting university, the educator took the time to check in.

The conversation left a lasting impact.

Her educator told Summer they were proud of her for making the decision to pursue her own future. They encouraged her not to let the expectations or opinions of others silence her voice.

For a student who had spent much of the semester wondering whether she had made the right decision, those words changed everything.

"I was worried that moving from Albury meant I would come to Melbourne and be a nobody," Summer says. "That moment made me realise that people did see me."

Hearing someone she respected recognise her strengths gave Summer the reassurance she had been searching for. It confirmed that she belonged at university, that her perspective mattered, and that she was capable of creating the future she wanted.

Today, Summer looks back on the decision to leave home as the beginning of something much bigger than a degree. It was the moment she chose herself.

"Just do it," she says. "You won't know what you're missing out on unless you try. Being scared and doing it anyway is so precious, because you realise you can overcome what you were so worried about."