Jefin Joseph in the flight simulator.

Griffith University Aviation Student Jefin Joseph hopes to combine his love for aviation with psychology after he was recently awarded a scholarship.

Jefin has been awarded the Golden Key Undergraduate Achievement Award — an award which recognises members for excellence in their undergraduate degree.

The third-year aviation student will use the award to pursue further studies in Psychology to help people of all backgrounds, particularly young adults, those in rural Australia, and those in the aviation industry, with their mental health.

“I want to do some research into mental health and wellbeing of flight crew,” he said.

Jefin still plans to pursue aviation, a passion he has had his entire life once he has completed his studies and has a further ability to help people mentally.

“I’m going to put this scholarship to good use to study psychology and further give back to the community.”

“There is a big mental health stigma in aviation and I want to help change that.”

When he began his degree, he took motivation from the Mentoring Aviators Through Educational Support (MATES) program run by the aviation school; a program through which he has begun mentoring other students this year.

“The Aviation MATES program helped a lot,” he said. “The staff as well are always happy to connect with you and talk about opportunities that arise in the industry.”

“Being a mentor I have learned to talk to people and help them out. A lot of what I’ve done this year has been trying to help people get through struggles they are having. I think that’s something that’s influenced my decision to do psychology.”

Jefin said he would not have been able to achieve as much without the encouragement and stellar teaching of Griffith Aviation staff.

“Griffith Aviation has a really strong program. Especially with supporting their students, they have really motivated me to constantly explore all the opportunities given and inspire other people to do so by sharing your passion and your experience.”

The Golden Key International Honours Society has more than 2 million members worldwide, in over 180 countries and helps students like Jefin to further their studies. For more information on scholarships offered to Griffith students and how to apply, visit the website.

Contributed by Jesaiah Hanna.