William Pel started volunteering at EMFM radio station in July 2021 while in school, but even after he finished school, his love for music meant he could not stay away.
William, 19, has autism and was a student at Echuca Twin Rivers School when he was put in touch with Connecting Futures, an organisation dedicated to supporting people with a disability in figuring out their life goals.
In one of the initial meetings Connecting Futures lead career mentor Julie Gardner had with William, he mentioned an affinity for music and a love of all things digital and computer related.
Ms Gardner reached out to EMFM to see if William could undertake work experience at the station while at school.
After completing two stints of work experience at the station, the committee behind EMFM offered William a permanent volunteering position while still in school.
Two years on, William has since finished school and remained at the station.
“They can’t get rid of me now,” William said with a laugh.
Dubbed the digital librarian, he categorises each music track into a genre and era.
“When I started, there were 45,000 songs to catalogue, now we have about 14,000,” William said.
“I enjoy going through the music and organising it and I also enjoy being around the people here.
“People think organising music into a specific genre is easy but it’s not because there are so many different genres and so many songs that fit into multiple categories.”
William said his passion for music and his curiosity as to how a radio station operated first sparked his interest in radio broadcasting.
Rest assured, EMFM said there would still be plenty more duties to take on around the station, even if there was no more cataloguing to be done.
William signed up with Connecting Futures as part of the School Leavers Employment Support program.
Through the program, Connecting Futures works with organisations to create supported employment or volunteering opportunities for participants.
Career mentors will meet with a participant every two weeks to get to know them one on one.
They will first meet in a place where the participant is comfortable such as home or school and then as the participant becomes familiar with their mentor they will start branching out and meeting up at cafés or in other public places.
The eventual goal is that the participant begins to vocalise what they want to achieve in life — whether it’s to get their driver’s licence, to get involved in a club, to find employment or to take lessons.
Ms Gardner said the participants were limited only by their own imagination because Connection Futures took every request seriously and would aim to do whatever it could to facilitate that request.
In William’s case and with the help of Connecting Futures, he has been issued a learner’s permit, he is working towards getting his driving hours up, he has been able to meet people who play Dungeons and Dragons, he has been able to take educational certificates and advanced computing lessons, and of course he volunteers with EMFM.
“Connecting Futures has helped me find where I want to go in my life,” he said.
“It’s broadened my horizons.”
Through the program, William has formed friendships with people that are of a similar age and have similar interests to him.
William’s Connecting Futures career mentor, Alison Thorp, said he was initially hesitant to get to know people and try new things but over time grew more comfortable with voicing his interests.
“He developed a willingness and openness to try new things,” Ms Thorp said.
“William put his hand up to volunteer at the Riverboats Music Festival that was held earlier this year and that is something that if I had asked him 12 months ago, I’m sure he would have said no.”
Ms Gardner shared Ms Thorp’s opinions, saying that watching William come out of his shell and grow has been amazing.
“He’s gained self-confidence and self-belief, he’s dared to dream and he has built rapport with people,” Ms Gardner said.
“Some of these participants have never even been given the space to dream about what they could achieve in life.
“This is all about getting the participants out of their comfort zone, expanding their life skills and connecting the dots between their interests and practical activities.”
Connecting Futures now has a permanent career mentor based at Joliman Lawyers in Echuca five days a week.
The mentor works with organisations to educate them on how they could best support people with a disability in the workplace.
If you think you have an idea for a supported employment opportunity, contact Connecting Futures on 5406 0438.