Written by Sophie Norris
I caught up with staff member, Alex Cary to find out more about all of the incredible work she does for Charles Sturt.
Alex is the Student Representative and clubs Officer on the Bathurst Campus.
Campus life is an integral part of Charles Sturt University culture especially on the Bathurst campus. Alex makes sure that Student-led clubs and the SRC have all the tools they need to run events and bring vibrancy to campus
Alex has years of experience in the events and marketing industry and knows just what it takes to keep student clubs on track.
She’s been a part of the Charles Sturt Team for 17 years and has plenty of stories to share. so listen up!
What is your role at Charles Sturt?
“I like to think of myself as the fun person. You come to uni to get your degree, but everything else that gives you the actual experience outside of your degree, I feel like I play a role in that.
Officially, I am the Student Representation and clubs officer on the Bathurst Campus so I look after the Bathurst SRC and the Bathurst clubs. This is my 17th year at Charles Sturt.”
I’ve always thought my role not only just doing the fun things, is giving you guys more experiences that you can take to your next jobs.”
Can you tell us a bit about your pathway to getting here?
“I sort of stumbled across it.
I sort of went to uni because it was what was expected of my family, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. So I dabbled in musical theatre for a while so I actually got early entry into the University of Wollongong based on a singing audition.
I’ll did a double degree to appease my dad so I actually enrolled in a commerce degree and ended up with a marketing and business law degree.
But in the last year of my degree it was actually my 21st and I was planning my birthday party and that’s when I realised, actually I like event planning, but it wasn’t really a thing back then.
I then got a job at Bathurst council doing events on a maternity contract and there was this job going at the uni.
The morning of the interview I was like I don’t think this is the right job for me, and my then boss was like do you know what this job is? And I said actually ‘and the rest is history.
What has your role looked like over the years?
We would do an event every week and I would get 900-1000 people in Rafters every week. And that was my full-time job, planning parties for uni students which was crazy.
It’s really hard to get my head around knowing what it was like then to what it is now after covid.
Do you have a favourite event you’ve ran on the Bathurst campus?
Village Fair was essentially a musical festival in a paddock. We used to do it down in the carpark at the Mountain.
We would have three stages, a DJ tent. It was like the big day out but you knew every person that was there was a uni student.
Traditionally we still do iconic events and I won’t let go of them – Dag Night and Eighties Prom.
Where did an interest for singing and music come from?
“My parents made me play the violin from when I was teeny tiny. I remember even being in primary school being the soloist in front of the choir singing, but it’s funny because I haven’t done it in a really long time either.
It would be my hobby if I said I had a hobby, but I don’t have much of a hobby outside of being a mum at the moment.
Last year I’ve went back to being a board member of the Bathurst Theatrical Society.
When I walked in one of the guys was like ‘Oh my gosh Glinda you’re back’ because I played Glinda in the Wizard of Oz.
And then came Elsa.
My friend is a photographer and she was like doing these Frozen sessions and was like do you reckon you could be Elsa? And I said ‘Sure why not?’
And that’s where Elsa came from, my alter ego.
But I hope to get back on stage one day soon.
Tell us a bit about your family?
“I’m a self-described town girl living on a farm with my husband James, and two boys Will and Charles (CSUFC’s #1 supporter).
What do you do to de-stress and relax?
Not enough!
But anytime I’m having a hard day at work or as a parent, James and I will text eachother and says ‘Let’s Go to Fiji.’
It’s somewhere where you can go and everyone is relaxed, everyone is happy and it’s our happy place.
It’s a relatively new happy place for the last decade, last year was the first time we’d taken both boys back and it was lovely.
But both our boys spewed when we visited so now they associate Fiji with spewing.
What advice would you give to someone starting university?
Get involved in everything.
I still remember my first day of Uni, I was a mess, I didn’t want mum and dad to leave, it was awful.
But I quickly got involved in my residence, not anything else, I didn’t go to any parties, I didn’t get involved in any clubs. I feel as though I missed the university experience you were meant to have.
So I remember when I was in charge of Charles Sturt Orientation, there was a girl having the same experience I’d had and I went up and spoke to her and said you’ll be fine.
Because you can do things and experience things at uni that you can never do again in your life.
What would you say has been your biggest challenge?
Being a mother. I’ve always been naturally good at things, like singing came naturally, school came naturally. But then they gave me this child and I had no idea what to do.
It was really hard to ask for help and to admit that I didn’t know that I was doing.
But once I admitted that it wasn’t easy, it gets a bit easier and now I say that to all my clubs and anyone new at work, just ask for help! But it’s always hardest to take your own advice.
If you could only eat one meal rest of your life, what would it be?
Red Doritos. It can’t be the yellow ones!
Or pasta, but I’m gluten intolerant.
What’s something you couldn’t live without?
My kids.
Who has influenced you the most?
My friends and family. It’s not one person. There’s people from all walks of life that have touched my life’s and they influence and inspire me everyday.
And you guys, oh my gosh you guys (the students).
You come so fresh faced and you just get involved and in a few short years you’re grown up people out in the world doing amazing things and saving peoples lives! So many students are very inspirational to me.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I’m sure I will still be at Charles Sturt. I love the impact I get to have on students lives. Be it for a short amount of time or the ones that I’m still I contact with and gone to their weddings and met their babies. It’s an incredible joy and privilege to be a part of this cycle of people’s journeys.
What would people be surprised to know about your work?
How much work and effort goes into running events. And the amount of emails I get is probably quite surprising, I’m back to 19,000 emails in my inbox.
What’s your proudest achievement?
My kids.
And then my work. Just to know I’ve had a positive impact on people’s experiences at the university. I love going downtown and students are like ‘Hi Alex’. It’s like being a famous singer on a low-key scale.
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