For Lumbii, moving from Botswana to Melbourne has helped her see the world in a new way, reminding her that it’s important to never stop exploring.
Moving across the world at a young age, Lumbii has been fortunate enough to experience diverse cultures and countries – from her homeland, Botswana, to living in Sydney, and now Melbourne. This sense of adventure helped make her the curious person she is today – and inspired her to continue exploring. What attracted her most about studying at Melbourne was the curriculum, and how it could enable her to pursue several of her interests through a broad range of subjects.
“I did my undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and that fed into my love for languages and interest in language identity. However, I still wanted to explore music, because I play the clarinet and I do a lot of social media, so I wanted to learn about those things too. The way it’s set up at Melbourne means I could stay quite broad and not be boxed into a certain thing.”
Having lived in different cities across the world, Lumbii was inspired to explore the sense of connection we have to those around us – and how we communicate through different languages.
“I think language plays a role in how you express yourself or how you see the world. To hear different voices has taught me how to be world minded. I’m really interested in language and identity and how these two things intersect; how we can say things with our language to communicate different things about ourselves. It has offered me the opportunity to see the world through different lenses and to be a little bit empathetic.”
"The way it’s set up at Melbourne means I could stay quite broad and not be boxed into a certain thing.”
Exploring new disciplines and ideas is a defining feature of study at the University of Melbourne. It’s possible to discover something in a field that you didn’t know existed, or you can follow your interests to explore where they could take you. Different career paths require different skills and specialist knowledge. At Melbourne, you can choose majors and minors that match your interests and career goals, or you might discover something new. Lumbii’s interest in music, social media and her desire to explore languages meant she could choose subjects to foster those interests, while keeping her future career options open.
“When I started my Bachelor of Arts, I knew I liked talking to people but I didn’t know much about linguistics as a field. In high school, studying English was a lot of comprehension and grammar, but now we get to look at spoken tech like podcasts, interviews or how people are communicating. Have they structured their speech in a specific way or what are they communicating? For me, this was a turning point, looking at the wide range of things I could study.”
Having since completed her Bachelor of Arts, Lumbii has gone on to begin a Master of Applied Linguistics. The opportunity to choose from over 40 different majors in the Bachelor of Arts gave Lumbii the chance to explore what different skills or career paths are available to her in a wide range of fields. And through her studies she's been able to develop skills and knowledge to form connections across disciplines.
In the final year in the Bachelor of Arts, you can take what’s called a capstone subject in your major, designed to draw together your fields of specialisation and prepare you for life as a graduate. For Lumbii, the experiences in her capstone subject led to work with a cultural agency in Botswana and this kind of practical experience translated into work within a few months of graduation.
Combining your interests and skills with new ways of thinking can help open up exciting career possibilities. You might not know what your future job title will be, and that’s okay – because at Melbourne you’ll get to explore a range of disciplines, emerging with the expertise and experiences to forge your own path.
“If I could have some impact in language policy and language teaching or education,” says Lumbii, “that would be fantastic. I think the theme of my life right now is exploring. There’s so much in the world, so much to explore, so much to see, so much to learn from people around you.”
In the final year in the Bachelor of Arts, you can take a capstone subject in your major, designed to draw together your fields of specialisation and prepare you for life as a graduate.