This month Integreat Queensland celebrated Rikki Razon’s 4th anniversary with Integreat Queensland. In 2017 Rikki began coming into Integreat Queensland as a volunteer, using his IT skills and experience from the Philippines to assist people to learn how to use technology in the ‘Be Connected, Be included’ program. From here Rikki moved into being a front desk volunteer as he began putting together the weekend updates. This continued until July 2018 when he began as a paid employee in general administration. In July 2020 he went on to achieving a Cert III in Business Administration.
With encouragement and support from all the staff at Integreat Queensland, Rikki went on to begin his education journey at CQ University in Rockhampton. At this stage Rikki moved back to part time work to enable him to take up fulltime study, first achieving a Diploma in Digital Media in 2021. After having become an Australian citizen in February 2022, Rikki went on to the next step in his academic journey studying towards an Associate Degree in Digital Media specialising in Graphic Design and Screen Production… his first success for the course this year was achieving a scholarship from CQ University, a worthy recipient!
So where to next for Rikki… as the song goes, ‘The world is his (my) oyster’. Here at Integreat Queensland, we are all so incredibly proud of all that Rikki does, including helping each of us achieve in our roles. Rikki’s story demonstrates that volunteering is a pathway to employment.
If anyone is reading this story and wants to try volunteering as a pathway to employment, please do phone Integreat Queensland – we will support you in any way we can!
