Power Grads
Susanne Koen
I’m Susanne Koen and I’ve been running my business, Infoquest for the last ten years, working as a freelance writer, editor, researcher and journalist.
I graduated ten years ago from University of South Australia in a degree in Professional Writing.
During the third year of my degree, I was asked to do some editing already for the Education Department and so I was combining that with my last year and when I finished my degree, when I graduated I approached the Education Department and asked them whether I could do any work for them, really just to get some work experience. So they gave me some proofing work to do and I charged them an absolute pittance because it was really just to see whether I could do it and whether they would be comfortable with me. After three months they asked me whether I would edit the first book which was Aboriginal Voices. That was really quite a remarkable experience because I had this fantastic book to edit that as soon as I read it I felt quite passionate about it and I had a vision as to how it might appear and in fact that’s exactly the way it was published.
The most exciting thing though has been really in the last four or five years where I’ve started working much more in the area of disadvantage and that all began with working with the drug strategy team where I was asked initially to edit a book but then they asked me whether I would rewrite the whole book from the research that I had done and from trailing around with them. I’m a very curious person so research really appeals to me. And that book which is about seven hundred and fifty pages, some of it now on CD ROM because you wouldn’t be able to lift it otherwise, has gone out and been very widely received in schools. In addition to that I edited and did a fair bit of rewriting on a book called Intervention Matters which is the state policy around drugs in schools. Intervention into possession of drugs, but also much more looking at things like, what can we do that’s preventative, how can we increase young people’s resilience, how can we improve protective factors and decrease risk factors. This is an area about which I am passionate and has led to more and more work in areas of social inclusion, so that now the majority of my work is working either for Social Inclusion Board, which is part of Premier’s Office or on a project which is also part of social inclusion but out of the Education Department called ICANs which is innovative Community Action Networks, and ICANs are trying to find ways to reengage young people who have dropped out of school or at least find measures to ensure that kids are sufficiently engaged that they don’t drop out. So, looking also at kids that are at risk of dropping out of learning.
But it’s incredibly satisfying work because I know that I am contributing to making a difference for the futures of these young people. And I don’t think that you can ever be more satisfied than when you are doing work that is so aligned with your own political and ideological beliefs. So, the work that I do comes very much from my heart and soul as well.
Recently I have completed a book for Premier’s Office called Supporting Young People’s Success – Forging the Links, which is looking at the learnings that have been gained from something called the School Retention Action Plan which is a three year plan, it’s part of the State Plan to find ways to reengage young people in their education.
Recently I’ve written a professional development tool that’s in the shape of a board game called Shaping Destinies which draws on all the learnings that I’ve gained over the last five years in working in the field of social inclusion. The game is a story of six young people and the sort of pathways that they might have and what might happen to them if certain events occur and how they respond to them and at the moment I’m finding that there is a lot of interest in the games so I’m just exploring what to do next with it.
I’m particularly endebted to the School of Communications and the people that taught me on the Professional Writing Degree, particularly people like Ruth Trigg who was an extraordinary lecturer who gave me a huge raft of skills but also the encouragement to pursue a degree in writing. I’m quite sure that I wouldn’t be doing this if it hadn’t been for that encouragement. I think above all else, the degree gave me a new way of looking at the world and it gave me the tools to unpack, tools that I hadn’t had before, and tools that I use constantly in my job.
I think for me, much more important than being successful in financial terms, and I’ve certainly achieved that as well, is the notion that I am contributing to change, that it is significant work, that I’m giving something back and that means a huge amount to me.