UWA student Amy ’t Hart has supported the City of Bunbury to make public spaces more inclusive and accessible for all community members through a McCusker Centre for Citizenship internship.
Amy, who is in the final year of her English Literature and General Music Studies degree, travelled from Perth to Bunbury during her winter break to undertake the 100-hour internship with the City’s community partnerships team.
With the City of Bunbury aspiring to be the most accessible regional community in Australia, the internship saw Amy undertake research on access and inclusion approaches across other local governments to help inform future decisions and maximise access and inclusion for all Bunbury residents.
“I had to think about things from a disability and inclusion perspective and it helped to open my eyes to the everyday challenges many people in the disability and inclusion space are faced with,” said Amy.
Amy found the City of Bunbury staff to be very supportive, allowing her to harness her personal strengths in research, writing and communications to gain the best possible outcome in her work for the Bunbury community, which she found “really rewarding”.
“The work Amy did was a tremendous help to our team and means we can better support our community. It was great that Amy was willing and able to challenge what was being done and offer creative solutions, applying her knowledge and skills learnt through her degree to bring a unique perspective,” said internship supervisor and City of Bunbury Senior Community Partnerships Officer, Danika Wellington.
Amy approached her internship with the hope it would guide her decision on what to do after graduation, and now has strong hopes to continue her work in local government.
“This internship has already given me many professional connections and given me new skills to use in the future,” said Amy, “I’m also hoping to volunteer with my own local government.”
Amy said she “definitely” recommends a McCusker Centre for Citizenship internship to other UWA students. “My internship has given me many new skills and opened my eyes to new jobs I will hopefully apply for,” said Amy.