Andrew Gibson Award

In 2024, the Andrew Gibson Award welcomed its second recipient, Will Chen. We are pleased to share an interview with Will conducted by Judo Bank, who are the sponsors of the Award and who offer an internship to the awardees.

You are a handful of days into your internship at Judo and are busy getting to know your teams. To fast track this process, can you share a bit about yourself?

I would love to! My name is Will, I’m a third-year student at the University of Melbourne, studying a Bachelor of Commerce. Outside of university life, I enjoy investing in stock markets and learning about banking and finance. I’m interested in collecting foreign currencies and enjoy studying their design features to learn about a country. I think there’s no better way to learn about the history and culture of a country than by their bank notes. For instance, Euro banknotes feature fictional architectural motifs rather than real landmarks. With only seven denominations but 20 countries using the Euro, depicting actual buildings would be impractical (since every country wants its landmark to be featured). Instead, the designs showcase generic styles from different historical periods. So next time you're in Europe, don't search for the buildings on the notes - they don't exist!

What motivated you to apply for the Andrew Gibson Award?

I think it’s well understood that the skills learned in a university environment may not match the real-world requirements, and while we learn a lot of technical information at university, only a small portion of that is used in a work setting. I knew gaining practical experience in a corporate environment would be extremely useful as I explore full time opportunities, so I was very interested to look for internships or scholarships.

As I was looking for opportunities, I came across the Andrew Gibson Award, which recognises contributions to society. This really appealed to me over grades-based programs as I strongly believe in providing education equality and providing equitable ways to learn and grow. There are small things I have done along the way to benefit others, including running case competitions for students to research and analyse current economic issues, developing strategies for fostering inter-cultural connections, peer mentoring, and tutoring. I shared these activities, as well as my intent to begin a YouTube channel for VCE Chemistry and Economics, and I was lucky enough to receive the Award.

Since receiving the Award, I felt I should follow through on my promise regarding the YouTube channel and, between October 2024 and now, I have recorded all VCE course content on my YouTube channel, Chemical Capital. While I enjoyed the process of preparing and recording materials, I learnt a lot about the editing process and the amount of time it takes! Without receiving the Award, I would not have completed the channel in such a short time. I have felt inspired by my selection by the committee and feel a need to give back as a beneficiary of such a great program. I will continue to advocate for education equality and providing resources to people who are eager to learn.

What excites you the most about working at Judo?

I have noticed how dedicated everyone is to Judo’s purpose and given the small size of this bank compared to its competitors, I believe that each person here can make a large difference to the company’s performance. For instance, decisions made in a small department could have an extreme impact to the bottom line, and improvements or choices made by team members can have a huge impact to the overall success. That is really exciting!

I am working in the Strategy and Growth team and am very interested in understanding how different areas of expertise within the bank interact with other functions. I have begun some research for the state economic reports and am eager to see them come together. I can tell there is a lot I can learn during this internship and I’m very excited to be here.