Written by Theresa Arden
There are moments in life that make you realise just how much time has passed. Starting a university degree as a mature-age student is one of them.
Picture me: a very mature-aged student, sitting down to write my first essay since high school, back when there wasn’t even dial-up internet. I had no idea what APA was, why in-text citations existed, or when commas stopped being helpful little pauses and started feeling deeply judgemental.
Turns out, it’s a whole system. With rules. And feelings.
Not long after submitting that very first assignment, I received an academic misconduct notice.
If you’ve ever had one of those emails land in your inbox, you’ll know the feeling instantly. Heart racing. Stomach dropping. Brain jumping straight to “Well, that’s it, I’ve ruined everything.” What made it harder was I had no previous work, no “academic voice” yet, and absolutely no idea what I was meant to do next.
In a moment of pure panic, I replied to the academic integrity team with a very honest, slightly frantic email explaining that I genuinely didn’t understand what I’d done wrong.
That email triggered something important.
Within 24 hours, the student support team reached out. A real person. A calm voice. Zero judgement. Their first question was simply, “Are you okay?” And honestly, it felt like someone cared about me, not just the rules.
They explained the process in plain, human language. They walked me through what would happen next, what I could use to support my case, and what all the scary words meant. They made it manageable.
That moment changed everything for me.
It showed me something AI can’t really do. AI can explain referencing rules and generate examples. But when you are in a full downward spiral, information alone isn’t enough. What you need is reassurance. You need someone to say, “We’ve got you. Let’s take this one step at a time.”
That human moment mattered more than any checklist ever could. It’s also why I’m so grateful for the student support team at Charles Sturt University. Their care didn’t just get me through a difficult moment; it helped me build the confidence to keep going. I’m now heading into Honours, with two Dean’s Awards behind me, which still feels slightly surreal considering how close I came to walking away at the very beginning.
Now, as a student mentor in the Uni Foundations program, I see that same uncertainty all the time, and that’s why mentoring still matters.
That whole experience reshaped how I see mentoring. At its core, mentoring is about translating university into human language. It’s about slowing things down, making systems less scary, and reminding people that struggling does not mean failing. It’s about listening properly, explaining clearly, and supporting without taking over. Those aren’t just nice qualities, they’re leadership skills.
And in a world full of AI tools that can summarise, generate, and automate almost anything, that human layer still matters deeply. AI can’t hear the wobble in someone’s voice, and it certainly can’t say, “I’ve been where you are, and you’re going to be okay.”
Being a mentor or a leader doesn’t always look like being in charge. Sometimes it looks like helping someone slow down and realise they’re doing better than they think.
And if you’ve ever helped someone exhale and think, “Okay… I’ve got this,” you’ve already done something no algorithm ever could.
Find out more about Student Advocacy: https://www.csu.edu.au/current-students/support/rights-and-responsibilities/advocacy-and-support
Find out more about Charles Sturt Mentoring: https://www.csu.edu.au/current-students/studying/support/mentoring-program
Charlie blog is a SSAF initiative.
