TasTAFE graduate Mikayla Towns is Tasmania’s ‘Vocational Student of the Year’

Mikayla Towns with her 'Vocational Student of the Year' award at the 2025 Tasmanian Training Awards celebration in Hobart.

From a small-town childhood shaped by personal tragedy, TasTAFE learner Mikayla Towns has become Tasmania’s ‘Vocational Student of the Year’.

Mikayla was presented with the award at the 2025 Tasmanian Training Awards in Hobart on 19 September – recognising outstanding achievement by a vocational learner in a nationally recognised qualification. But her pathway towards completing her TasTAFE Certificate III in School-based Education Support was far from straightforward.

Mikayla grew up in the mining hub of Zeehan on Tasmania’s west coast. After finishing Year 12 as a boarder at Hellyer Collage in Burnie, she wanted to go to University to study nursing – with a focus on mental health care.

But without the support of her immediate family, Mikayla returned to the west coast and like many locals, started working in the mines.

Mikayla’s confidence had taken a hit: “I just told myself that I wasn't smart enough to go to Uni,” she said. But her job at the mine, even though it was well-paying, eventually ran its course.

“I got 2 years into the job at Rosebery Mine and I just knew it wasn't the life that I wanted. But it really sparked a desire for something more meaningful,” Mikaylah said.

Mikaylah’s search for meaning, in her career and in her life, was fuelled by the loss of her mother to addiction then suicide when she was just 7 years old.

“That was why I was so passionate about going into mental health,” Mikaylah said, “because I wanted to go on that journey to learn more about my mother, then try to have an impact.”

Mikaylah’s had also experienced first-hand the positive influence that good teachers can have.

“As a young person, school became my sanctuary, my safe place – where I felt supported and valued. School gave me a deep appreciation for the role that educators can play.”

Mikaylah realised that to have the impact that she was seeking, she had to leave the west coast – a move endorsed by her Nan in Launceston (technically her mother’s adoptive stepmother: “It’s a bit of a long story – she’s more like a parent, really.”).

So, with growing confidence and some money in the bank, Mikayla and her partner relocated to Launceston when she was 21.

Fitness had become a big part of Mikayla’s life on the west coast, and in Launceston, she resumed working life as an instructor with F45 Fitness.

When a conversation with one of her fitness clients, a teacher at Youngtown Primary School, led to a job offer as a Teacher Assistant (TA), Mikayla sensed that she was getting closer to finding her purpose. She took the job but said she was in over her head.

“I hadn’t been in a school for years. I didn't know any of the policies and procedures or what the teachers were talking about: morphology, digraphs… I jumped on the computer and I was researching how to be a TA!”

When a space opened in the Certificate III in School-based Education Support course at TasTAFE’s Alanvale Campus, Mikayla jumped at the opportunity.

Now, having completed her Certificate III, Mikayla is thriving. She credits TasTAFE with giving her the essential framework to succeed.

“TasTAFE equipped me with such a wide variety of strategies – a toolkit of real-life scenarios about how to work with different students with specific additional needs, or who come from complex trauma backgrounds. Plus, important things like your duty of care, inclusive education, policies, restrictive practises, knowing what you can and can't do… I was flying blind, but now I feel confident in my role,” Mikayla said.

A highlight of Mikayla’s training was the teacher observation period, when TasTAFE Early Childhood and Community Teacher Jo Freeland observed Mikayla in the classroom supporting students – including a child who had climbed up a tree and wouldn’t come down!

“I did manage to get the student out of the tree!” Mikayla said. “Jo told me how impressed she was and gave me some positive feedback. What that did for my confidence! You just wouldn't get that anywhere else.”

Successes and major milestones keep coming for Mikayla. She recently won a University of Tasmania scholarship and has started an Associate Degree of Education Support. Mikayla will be representing Tasmania and TasTAFE at the Australian Training Awards in Darwin on 5 December, and she’s training to run the London Marathon in April 2026!

But what really drives Mikayla – grounded in her lived experience and reinforced by her TasTAFE training – is supporting children with genuine compassion and understanding.

“Every child is unique, and every child can strive and achieve – and I just hope that I can create spaces for my students where they feel respected, capable and accepted for who they are, giving them the confidence to succeed.”

Your Nan is no doubt very proud of your confidence to succeed, Mikayla.

“Nan and I made the trip down to Hobart together to go to the Tasmanian Training Awards,” Mikayla said. “It was really nice for her to get dressed up and go out for dinner. That was really special. I feel very grateful.”