Bio

Hello, my name is Chloe, and my pronouns are She/Her. I am a 20-year-old Harry Potter fan living in Whittlesea. I am a girl who has Autism and a condition called Dissociative Disorder. The yellow ladybug that is seen as my avatar represents girls with Autism in Australia. A lot of people don’t know or understand these conditions, but I am happy to explain that these conditions don’t stop me from achieving my goals; In fact, they help me focus and commit to the things I enjoy which include cooking, creating art projects, reading, writing, and looking after animals.

I really enjoy helping people and contributing to the community. I do that by volunteering at my local neighbourhood house. I love cooking for the Women’s Lunch as I like to see people enjoy themselves and get happy and excited about what food I will be cooking. I also get to connect with people that attend, and I sometimes even get a hug. In this workplace, I get to meet like-minded people that have values like mine, for example, honesty, compassion, and loyalty.

I have hospitality experience working in a café and a food van. I am currently volunteering at the local library and the Whittlesea Community House preparing food packages for emergency pet relief and cooking food for the Women’s Lunch. My role volunteering at the library where I get to meet, talk and help community members includes finding what people are looking for in the library and helping library staff put books away and keep the shelves tidy and organised.

In the future, my dream job would be to own a Harry Potter-themed café. Pets are welcome and will be able to roam around so the community can come to enjoy some tasty snacks and get to pat and cuddle the animals as it will provide a place for people to feel safe and to be happy. The reason that this is my dream job is that I can combine my experiences in Hospitality, my love and knowledge of animals, and my passion for helping and caring for people.

CORE Capabilities

Co-design is the process where people work together to create something of value tailored to their needs and preferences that is built around four CORE capabilities (collaboration, openness, respect, and empowerment). How these are evidenced is profiled below:

Collaboration – demonstrating how I work as part of a team.

Trip to Parliament

I have shown collaboration by coordinating and working together to travel to State Parliament with two other students, a teacher from Whittlesea Secondary College and Lisa Vagg from Save the Children. There we met with the Labour Member for Yan Yean Danielle Green and Premier Daniel Andrews. We were there to talk about getting some funding for our program called Hands-on Learning, which was a program we really enjoyed and gained so much from but ended due to lack of funding. It was important to us the program continued as the program helped us discover a lot about ourselves and each other as well as learn new skills that we would never have learned in a classroom.

During the meeting Danielle Green brought us lunch while we sat and gave a small presentation about the importance of continuing the program. We had a surprise visit from Premier Daniel Andrews as he was very interested in what we had to say.

For those who don’t know the Hands-on Learning program was a program where students would come together 1-2 times a week to learn new skills around the school and support the community. We would work on focus plans which were our daily goals; these plans enabled us to plan and work together as a team to achieve our daily goals. We would also participate in Billy cart races with other schools with the carts we built and so many wonderful things. We were also asked to bring $5 every time which would contribute to getting ingredients for lunch which we would cook together.

Hospitality

During year 11 and 12 of high school, I completed my Hospitality training where I gained Certificates I and II in Kitchen Operations. I worked alongside a class of 4-6 students where we would often do small functions and events where we would have to cook and cater to large groups of people. Some of those functions and events would include: a high tea for our teachers, a Table of Plenty which catered for over 100 people, a 4-course meal for our families. We also made over a hundred cupcakes to raise money for The Kids Cancer Project and many more. I absolutely loved being in this class as they were such amazing people to work with.

I loved making so many different food creations because I could show my creative side when it comes to plating the food. I also took so much joy in seeing the people getting smiles on their faces when they saw and tasted the food as it would make me smile too. I feel like I learned a lot of experience in Hospitality from these classes and events which also helped me with my confidence especially when it comes to cooking. On two separate occasions my class was taken to Fare Share where we would help make hundreds of quiches and sometimes sausage rolls in a manner of a few hours which was tiring but worth it as that food was to be sent to those who live on the streets or who can’t afford food so they can have a warm and nutritious meal. This warms my heart as I and many others I know have been in this situation before, and I love the feeling that people who are struggling will have something to look forward to in their day.

Emergency Pet Relief

I have also helped the Community House and the four-legged friends by helping to manage the Emergency Pet Relief. I help by going down to the Second Chances pet shelter and picking up donated food where I will help put the cat and dog food into smaller bags to be given to people who can’t afford food for their pets.

Openness – Demonstrating how I listen to the ideas of other team members, and how I make judgements by weighing the pros and cons of different ideas.

Library

Twice a week I volunteer at the local library in Whittlesea where I get to meet and talk to so many wonderful people of all ages. Some of my tasks and duties during the time I am there are to put away the returned books and find the held books that are wanted by other branches. These books will be given to the people who are next on the list to borrow them. Another task I do there is going through the shelves and tubs to make sure everything is in order and remove the older and unwanted books that haven’t been borrowed in a long time.

I love finding and sorting things out into their rightful places as it gives me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that everything is where it should be. This makes it easier for the staff and people visiting the library to find what they are looking for without the confusion and stress of the books not being where they should be. I show openness by listening to the ideas and plans of the staff at the library who come up with ways to improve the library. I am open to the changes that they are planning on making. I am also always keen to listen to and take in the suggestions that the people visiting the library may have on what books, movies, audio books and magazines that they wish the library would supply.

Respect – Demonstrating how I express my ideas and how I react to the ideas of others.

Womens Lunch

I currently volunteer at the Community House where I help with emergency pet relief and the Women’s Lunch. When I am doing the Women’s Lunch, I demonstrate respect by helping some of the ladies with walking canes, walkers, and even those with motorized scooters by placing the food on their plates and helping to carry their food and drink back to their tables. I also sit and talk to the ladies who may sit by themselves, and I listen to whatever they have to say, which I feel kind of makes them feel better about themselves and less lonely. Some of the ladies who come there don’t feel worthwhile so my goal for when they come to the Women’s Lunch is to change that by making them feel wanted and included.

With the Women’s Lunch, I work alongside three other people who help cater for up to 40 ladies who come to the lunch, and we cook different foods each time whether it be pasta, kebabs, pies, and a variety of other things. We always make sure we have something for those with dietary requirements, in this case, we always make a spare dish for those who are vegetarian or Celiac. Respecting the needs of my community is a core value of mine.

Empowerment – Demonstrating my independent decision-making, how I show pride in my work and that of my team, and how I support others.

House Captain

In the year 2019 Whittlesea Secondary College changed the house system from being 4 houses to 8 (Jackman, Freeman, Chisholm, Pitt, Thorpe, Newton, Melba, and Daniher). Each house represented a colour, a logo, a motto, and a charity each house would earn money for through fundraiser events. I was a member of Chisholm house; Chisholm represented the colour red with the motto “Believe and Achieve” our house logo being the laurel wreath. We would raise money for the Diamond Valley Special Development School across the road so they can get new toys, playground equipment, and even a new special bus to help them move around the community. I would often help out the Head of House, with tasks like decorating the Chisholm house building and the teacher’s office, helping with fundraisers, helping to count positive recognitions, and a variety of tasks.

In 2020 that all changed as I was selected to be House Captain; originally, I had applied to be house leader, but my head of house saw that I was better suited to House Captain. Which means I was instructed to help guide the house leaders and for them to come to me if they need anything. In this new role, I was entrusted with the tasks I would do the year before plus some new roles which would include organising, planning, and counting the money from fundraisers, helping the house leaders with their tasks or if they need any help. I sometimes helped run house assemblies by handing out awards or giving out some announcements that the head of house wanted me to announce and work with other house captains from the other houses. I enjoyed working in this new role as it gave me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences to empower others.