Del Baldoviso, who was raised in the Philippines and moved to Australia in 2013 with his family, was determined to go to university, but a difficult final year of school threatened to ruin his plans.
'I was still learning English as my second language, and because of that reason I wasn’t confident my grades would be good enough for me to qualify for the degree I wanted to study,' he said.
His career advisor recommended that he take a look at the Accelerated Entry Pathway Program (now UniPrep) to help increase his chances. Del Baldoviso completed the summer program and is now in his final semester of a Bachelor of Creative Arts, majoring in Visual Arts.
Del said the program helped bridge the gap from life as a Year 12 student to life as a university student living away from home.
'At first it was daunting because I was the only student from my school involved in the program and didn’t know anyone, but I ended up meeting a lot of people with different interests,' he said.
'The support and guidance I received from the lecturers over the course of the program was invaluable.'
Mr Baldoviso said the advanced knowledge and techniques he had learned through the University’s Visual Arts degree had sharpened his skills as an artist.
