Elevation Secondary College paraprofessional teacher Alice Hu has won the Outstanding Early Career Secondary Teacher Award at the 2023 Victorian Education Excellence Awards.
Ms Hu has always had a strong passion for mathematics and improving women’s access to STEM subjects and found her love of teaching after engaging The University of Melbourne mathematics department.
She ran logic and career inspiration workshops at the university and worked with teachers to identify mathematics potential in female students.
Forty students attended the voluntary workshops, with years 7-9 girls now demonstrating higher ‘mastery’ levels.
She then began her career at Elevation in Craigieburn with Teach for Australia, a non-profit organisation that aims to address the inequality of education within Australia.
Year 8 student Ammar Mahmoud is one who has benefited from Ms Hu’s work. Ammar moved to Australia from Egypt in 2018, and has actively participated in the college’s accelerated mathematics program since year 7. He recently won best project in Australia at the National Maths Talent Quest Awards.
“Ms Hu guided me through my project, helping me consider details I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise,” he said.
“She consistently assisted me during her spare time and has been a strong support in maths since last year when she was my year 7 maths teacher.”
College principal Colin Burke was full of praise for Ms Hu saying “Alice has visibly and positively impacted the learning outcomes of all her students“.
Gerald Lynch
