Community engagement success for CDU student 

 
Ribuna Mick 

CDU Certificate III Business student Ribuna Mick (pictured)  has taken up a casual position as a receptionist at Anglicare’s head office in Ludmilla.

Anglicare is a community service agency providing culturally relevant and innovative responses to community needs.

Ribuna works casually each Friday, gaining primary work experience to complement her studies.

Human Resources Manager for Anglicare, Helen Walker was highly complimentary of Ribuna’s work: “This is a win-win situation for all of us. We are very pleased to have Ribuna working for us and she is enjoying her role very much."

And Ribuna said she understood the benefits of gaining experience in a real work situation:

“It’s good to understand the actual policies of the real workplace, learning to deal with the stresses of the workplace, working on my own, having to lift myself up and say ‘I can do this’. There’s nothing like the real situation to learn these things.”

Ribuna is applying skills initially learnt in the “virtual workplace” of CDU’s Crocodylus World Virtual Enterprise, a virtual work environment resembling its business partner, Crocodylus Park – a research and education institution located at Berrimah, near Darwin, dedicated to the research, education and marketing of crocodile information and products.

As “employees” of the Crocodylus World Virtual Enterprise, students undertake office administration, advertising and promotions, market research, salaries and accounting practices, reception and human resources administration.

CDU’s engagement with business and not-for-profit organisations provides win-win outcomes for everyone involved. The learning environment at Crocodylus World has given Ribuna the skills and confidence to move easily into the workplace at Anglicare.

For more information about Crocodylus World Virtual Enterprise, contact Bev Luke on 08 8946 6033 or bev.luke@cdu.edu.au. To form new links with CDU contact Linda Cuttriss, Coordinator Community Engagement on 08 8946 6336 or linda.cuttriss@cdu.edu.au.