A second family 

For Millie, NASCA is there to pick her up when times are tough, celebrate her achievements when she’s on top of the world, and be a second family to her when she’s at school.

“I was getting called names. I would go home crying. I was feeling so emotionally drained, I didn’t know what to do. I just felt sick,” says Millie.

Millie – a Wiradjuri woman in year 9 at Dubbo College South – recalls a time when school was not so easy for her. Like so many young people who present as confident and without a care in the world, a lot more was happening for her below the surface. 

“As a person, I was struggling a lot,” says Millie.

“But Hayley knew there was something wrong, and she was right on it and she’s been there for me ever since.”

For Millie, it wasn’t just when the going got tough that she turned to NASCA. The NASCA staff, and in particular Team Leader Hayley Astill have been a source of support for Millie since she joined the program in year 7. 

“It can be hard to come into a big school like this one, so for Milie, knowing we’re there as a backup for her and that she’s got someone to talk to has made a real difference,” says Hayley. 

NASCA has been running a Young Women’s Academy at Dubbo College South for X years. One of the main goals of the Academy is to provide an extra support network at school for Indigenous young women and girls –  a cohort of students who are routinely overlooked and underfunded. 

“A lot of Indigenous girls struggle, it’s really hard. There can be a lot of shame, and it’s hard to open up. I know for a fact girls come in the NASCA room because it’s a safe place they can go. They can make connections with other girls and that helps you know who you are as a person, and your identity and culture. 

“All Indigenous girls at this school know they have that support from NASCA and that really helps, we would be lost without them,” says Millie. 

Today, Milie is a far cry from that girl who would leave school at the end of the day in tears. She is a rising basketball star, recently competing in nationals for Indigenous Basketball Australia, was named the UAA Indigenous Athlete of the Year at the Regional Academies of Sport Awards, and was awarded a scholarship to finish her schooling at the prestigious Pymble Ladies College in Sydney’s North Shore. 

Along with her hard work and dedication, Millie credits her Mum and the support she got from NASCA as instrumental to her achievements.