Humans of Carey: Candy Liu

Acting Admissions Manager

About 15 years ago, I came to Australia to do my Master of Communications and Media Studies at Monash University. At the time, I wanted to pursue a career in media, but I found it difficult because I didn’t fully understand Australian media culture just yet. I started working part-time with an education agency helping out international students, and I realised that this is what I really wanted to do – help other international students to come to Australia with an already established support network and an understanding of the culture.

I began my career with Deakin College as an Admissions Officer, where I assisted international tertiary students with their transition to this new country. I worked there for about eight years before I decided I needed a change, and the opportunity to work at Carey came up. I started here in 2017 as Admissions Co-ordinator, mostly working with Senior School, Junior School Donvale and International Student enrolments. For the next 12 months, I will be in the role of Acting Admissions Manager, where I will be leading the Admissions team and overseeing the whole school’s admissions.

I am excited to start in this new role, there are a lot of challenges and opportunities going into 2021. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Working in education is so fulfilling. It’s always so exciting for me to help families on their journey to attend this amazing school. There are so many international families who work really hard to get here, and I get to share in their joy when they finally do. One of my highlights of each year is attending the Donvale assembly where the Preps I helped enrol receive their Carey badges from the Year 6s. They are always happy moments.

I have two young children: Olivia who is in Year 2 and Hugo who is in Prep. They’re great kids, they have opposite personalities but they’re both independent and creative in their own ways. I love spending whatever free time I have with them, we go see movies and go for walks. I enjoy showing them nature because I feel that was missing in my childhood.