Bio

My name is Nicholas Buda. I am 18 years old and live in Epping. I am currently studying VCAL (intermediate level) at Plenty River College. My hobbies and interests include music and basketball. My most recent achievement has been returning to education. In the future, I aspire to become a qualified architect.

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.

I find it useful to work with members of my family whenever there are issues to resolve or activities to undertake. At school I worked in a team to design the new garden bed artwork. As a team we created designs on paper and we had a discussion and we decided on a final design to paint on the garden bed.

 

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.

I am capable of being receptive to new ideas, willing to accept feedback or criticism and open to sharing ideas with others. In my current school I am able to demonstrate through working in pairs or as part of the group. I demonstrated openness when the banyule youth council attended our school to deliver a workshop about relationships.

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

In my dealings with people, I am respectful towards their feelings, opinions and ways of life, even if I disagree in certain circumstances. I understand that in my current school, a major reason for my popularity with staff and fellow students has been my ability to treat everybody with respect. I also showed respect during a presentation about School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships (SBAT) from an external organisation as I sat and listened to the presenter and other students’ questions and answers.

I also showed respect through a group discussion as I was listening to other people’s views and opinions.

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

Empowerment means I am gaining the power and control over critical aspects of my life. I am currently getting the right level of support from my family and staff at Plenty River College to reengage in education. My interactions at the college have enabled me to gain more confidence and feel; at ease with myself. In the future, I hope to be able to empower other people to be respectable and confident members of the community.