Meet Mathias, Learning for Life Coordinator

Mathias has been working with The Smith Family for the past three years. In his role as ‘Learning for Life Coordinator’, he’s a bit of an unsung hero working with schools and families to support students in need to receive the best opportunities they can to achieve at school.

Mathias shared with us a little more about his role as part of The Smith Family team.

Q. Mathias, what is the best thing about your job?

A. I would say, working with partner schools, families and my colleagues internally to provide some wonderful support to the families we work with and the students we help. We have a suite of programs that we deliver into the community through schools, iTrack online mentoring program, student2student reading program and Learning Club.

Q. Have you seen changes in students?

A. Yes I’ve seen change with a lot of students. For example, I was speaking to some parents at the end of the year; they actually told me ‘I used to push my daughter to study, but after 6 months of attending Learning Club, she now propels herself to study, I don’t have to push her, she reads books, she loves working mathematics problems’.

Q. Do you have a memorable moment so far?

A. When I first started, there were very few students applying for sponsorship to assist them in their pathway after senior studies.  But in 2013, I had about 13 students that actually got into university after completing their HSC. I am happy to see kids improving from just leaving school in year 12, but aspiring to go to TAFE or university and doing different courses, hands on like a mechanic or electrical engineering or becoming a lawyer. That aspiration sort of puts some light in my life, when kids are aspiring different options in their lives.

Q. What is your passion?

A. My passion is mainly with helping the community. I want to see everyone working together to achieve something better in life and alleviate poverty if we can. Helping kids from disadvantaged areas from an early age so that they can be able to support themselves in the near future. I guess my parents were both teachers and I might have got that from them… to make a difference in people’s lives.

To read more about our Learning for Life program click here.