Students in Focus
Living a busy and fulfilling student life
Currently pursuing a double degree in Public Relations and Event and Tourism Management, Hayden Lenord is the first in his family to attend University and has embraced campus life enthusiastically, working full time and getting involved in a myriad of activities.
Whether you are student, staff – or maybe even, visitor – if you belong to the University of Canberra community, odds are that Hayden Lenord is a familiar face.
He’s an active participant, organiser and volunteer at many student events and activities.
“My participation in UC activities stems from my involvement in UCLife's student ambassador program, where students volunteer to work at numerous campus life events throughout the semester, events like O Week, Stress Less Week and live concerts,” said Hayden.
He also works as an Aspiration Agent with the Widening Participation team at UC, where he draws on his own personal experiences to encourage school students to seriously consider higher education.
“The approach is not necessarily to encourage them to attend UC, but more to motivate them to finish Year 12 and go on to study further, at any higher education institution.”
“In Semester Two, I was also a UC Mentor for three first year students. I met up with them once a week, and basically helped them to settle into university life, and assisted them with any issues they had.”
Hayden has been the face of UC in various marketing campaigns for the University, including the 2020 Course Guide.
He is also pursuing his interests in event management as he worked as the events and marketing coordinator for a Canberra night club for the past nine months. He is driven by his passion for music and public events, and intent on building his career in event management. His dream job in future? Managing music festivals.
“Music festivals have always been a big passion of mine. Doing something like managing ‘Spilt Milk’ or ‘Groovin the Moo’ would be a dream job,” said Hayden.
“An alternative would be artist management – working for an agency and looking after artists on tour.
“I see my job at Mr Wolf Nightclub as a big chance to break into the scene. I have been working in the industry for seven months now and have mostly grasped how things operate!”
Hayden grew up in Dubbo, NSW, and chose to move to Canberra to pursue his studies. “It was like moving to a bigger country town,” he said. And he means this in the nicest way possible – it made for an easy, comfortable transition from home to university life.
With his younger brother currently completing Year 12, Hayden believes his decision to attend University will inspire him to follow in his footsteps.
“I think a combination of my involvement in uni life – and my positive posts on social media – have led to my brother adding the University of Canberra to the top of his UAC application.”
“He is inclined to join a similar course to me, with his top preferences being Event and Tourism Management, Sports Media, Sports and Exercise Science or Content Media. He has seen all the fun I am having in Canberra and gone ‘yep that looks fun, I’ll join you’!”
Hayden loves every minute of his busy life, because he simply enjoys what he is doing. He has a clear goal of what he wants to achieve and is working hard to get there.
With his positive, go-getter determination, community spirit and open, friendly outlook, Hayden is an inspiration to far more people more than just his younger brother.
Words by: FAD Project Hub team - Jayden Seddon, Shiyuan Wang, Yinghao Lu and Xiaoyu Liang. Photos supplied.