For a long time, Patricia (Reesha) Sy kept her creative ambitions to herself. “My parents weren’t sure a creative career would be the best way for me to have a secure future,” she says. “And I felt like illustration and design was something I wanted to learn on my own, more as a form of self-expression.”
She continued secretly making art during the COVID lockdowns at her home (in the Philippines city of Cebu). She says, “We didn’t have paper, so I’d keep tea bags. I’d cut the bags up and use the tea for the garden. After collecting all this paper, I started painting on it. Then one day my Mum found my work. She was like, ‘Oh my God, Reesha! You need to keep doing this!’ So, after that I kept going and my family is super supportive now.”
Currently in first year of Bachelor of Animation Production at UTS, Reesha began her university experience at UTS College, with UTS Foundation Studies.
Some of Reesha's work, including the 'teabag' series that started everything.
UTS Foundation Studies – a transformative year
Her predicted grades at high school were impressive, and she had expected to go directly to UTS. But she was studying the IB (International Baccalaureate) at certificate, not diploma level. “I was aiming for art colleges and doing high level art and English, but I wasn’t doing diploma level for other subjects,” she says. “My guidance counsellor said this meant I’d need to take a Foundation year before I could start at UTS. I didn’t mind because I’d never been to Australia, or anywhere on my own, and so I thought a Foundation year would be good for me. One of the reasons I’d chosen UTS over a more traditional art school was to have a real a university experience – to make friends and meet people with completely different careers to mine.”
Immense personal growth
Reesha found Foundation Studies was exactly what she needed. “I made so many new connections, so when I started at UTS this year I was really on my feet,” she says. “I’m meeting other first year students who didn’t get that opportunity. They’re always asking me, ‘how do you know this? How do you know your way around and what UTS is like?’”
Of course, Reesha’s Foundation year was about more than learning her way around campus. She describes it as a time of immense personal growth. “It was a chance to find myself as a person,” she says. “I’m the youngest in my family. I have a sister and a brother, but they’re both much older than me – by about 16 years. I was always with my parents and siblings, and I didn’t really know who I was without them. When I was entering UTS College, I felt a little nervous. But the College helped me feel ingrained in Sydney. We had really great teachers, especially for English. They even taught us Australian slang, and how to pronounce words with an Aussie accent. It was always fun.”
Discovering leadership potential
While studying at the College, Reesha also grew in self-confidence. “I never thought I was a good speaker,” she says. “I mean I knew I was talkative. I yap a lot about stupid things. But in second semester, we did a lot of presentations in class, and we’d look for ways to be unique. I remember I started with a joke to engage everyone, and it was so much fun. That was the first time a teacher ever came up to me and said, ‘You should do something in a leadership role. You have a natural gift for speaking and you shouldn’t let that go.’ I’d never thought like that before. And now I’m doing content creation and talks. I’ve gained the confidence and skills to do things like pitches. I never thought I could until those classes.”
Reesha wants to explore her leadership potential. She says, “Now I’m an assistant teacher at UTS College. I also applied to be a student ambassador last year, but I missed out. I didn’t really know how to do a resume at the time. I look at it now and I think, ‘No wonder they rejected me. It looks so unprofessional.’ But I’d like to apply again, now that I understand what to do. Hopefully I’ll get in this time.”
Some special memories
She values the great connections she made at UTS College. “Some of our subjects were once or twice a week, but English was every day. I’d see the same people all the time, and we really started building a bond. They’re the people I got to know well. I could talk to any of them. On our last day, our teacher surprised us with a cheesecake, and we all brought chips and strawberries. We dedicated the class to being together before we had to separate. We still talk about that day,” she says.
Another special UTS College memory happened during her summer break. Reesha won the Outstanding Graduate prize. “I still hardly believe it. I was back in the Philippines when I got the email. I was in the car and just started freaking out. I thought it was probably a mistake until I saw my name. I really didn’t expect it,” she says. “I was really happy.”
Finding her tribe
Moving on to UTS is an important milestone for Reesha. She says, “I feel so lucky and privileged to be studying for a creative career. I’m doing homework that I would have been doing in my free time back in high school. I remember one task was to go to the zoo and draw animals. I get to go to the zoo for school! That’s amazing. And my classmates are similar. We like to say animation students are kind of dorky. We all have a sort of energy to us.”
When she looks to the future, Reesha prefers to keep her options open. “People expect me to say, ‘I want to be an animator – I want to go to Disney,’ but there’s so much I don’t know about animation yet. There are so many different branches; like design and character design and storyboarding and other things I haven’t even touched yet. I’m sure I’d have a different answer in four years. I’ll be a completely different person by then.”
Discover more about UTS Foundation Studies