Jinx Atherton is one of the quiet achievers who have helped CQUniversity gain international renown for its academic support services...

Academic support is among four of the University's 'star' projects added to an international dababase of good practice in higher education, via the Australian Universities Quality Agency. LINK to World's universities able to turn to CQUni for 'good practices' for details.

Jinx Atherton (centre) with L-R Margarete Zea, Gavin Hill and Stephen Cronin

And Jinx has been in the thick of the action for almost a decade as part of a multi-campus Mathematics Learning Centre (MLC) network.

Based in Bundaberg, she has dealt with plenty of students who have 'maths phobias' or 'bad school experiences' standing in their way.

"Many students seek out assistance but there are also students who are very afraid to come to get one-on-one help for fear of feeling 'dumb'. 

"I do try to put any student at ease if they come to ask questions and word of mouth from satisfied students certainly raises the awareness of our service," Jinx says.

"I am very passionate about my love of mathematics and yes I certainly try to instill that same feeling into the students I work with.

"I find the mature-aged students are much more apt to seek out the MLC assistance -- possibly because of their organisational skills, and they know they want to know the 'why'.  However the service is there for all students!  I have had some students get upset when I tell them I can't help do their assignments but I explain to them I can help them with background knowledge that is needed to do the assignment. 

Jinx talks 'maths' with student Stephen Cronin

"There are many students that have gaps in their mathematics backgrounds and I do try to help them fill those gaps.  We have subjects including Maths 1A and B and multivariate calculus and the students taking the courses are our future high school maths teachers, so they show great promise.

"There are students that are transformed from 'hating maths' to finding it a beautiful subject and that gives me great joy. The drop-in centre can often have more than one student seeking out assistance and it is lovely to see students helping each other as well as 'talking mathematics'.

"Maths is used in so many courses from education, nursing, psychology, aviation, business to engineering so I get to meet students from all schools which is fantastic.

"When students ask me 'why do we need mathematics' I reply with, because 'it is accurate, precise and indispensable'. Mathematics is the tool of every other subject and it is the supreme language."