Throughout its preparations for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018), organising body, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) has thoroughly demonstrated its commitment to a diversity of people not only from abroad, but right here at home.

As champions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander excellence, GOLDOC’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) team members have been working to improve opportunities and reconciliation outcomes for First Nations people and the broader Australian community at all levels.

Third-year Bachelor of Arts student Sera-Lyn Terare — who hails from Butchulla Country in the Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island region — has been involved in the team’s workings as an intern, and says the experience has been a professionally and personally rewarding one.

“I’m enjoying the experience of the internship — I probably say how much I love my job about three times a day,” she says.

“I’ve met so many amazing and inspiring men and women within GOLDOC and the community who have been a part of the GC2018 Games journey over the last few years.”

Sera-Lyn’s internship, developed as part of Griffith University’s partnership with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018), has largely focused on administrative assistance, including — among other duties — the preparing and drafting content for RAP community newsletters on behalf of the team, which she says has “given me an insight into how my future career plans will look in the long run”, as well as afforded her an experience unlike any other.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so thankful to have gotten this chance to work within the first RAP in the history for Commonwealth Games and a major sporting event,” she says.

“I hope that the Commonwealth Games Federation will continue to celebrate the First Nations of the host country for future Games.

“I have never been more thankful for an opportunity as I am for the one that I was given by Griffith and GOLDOC. I have learnt so much about Indigenous culture and the Yugambeh Country.

“I feel that this internship has shaped me into a better writer and a more confident person. I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life after Games time.”