Celine Badaoui

Why did you choose your degree?

I enjoyed studying agriculture as an elective at high school because it was a really fun, hands on subject, and following the completion of Year 12, I was offered to study agriculture at the University of Sydney under the Agriculture and Environment Undergraduate Merit Scholarship. I was excited to have received this offer because I knew it would an awesome experience to study agriculture at a great university like the University of Sydney.

What’s your favourite unit you’re currently studying at uni?

My favourite unit that I studied in this degree was New Food Product Development where we worked in groups to actually develop new and improved food products in the food labs, which was a lot of fun.

What does your typical day at uni look like?

Currently uni is online so my uni experience is mostly at home, so I just grab a coffee in the morning before class, and then I switch on zoom and join in on my virtual tutorials, and then I also spend a few hours a week listening to lectures online. And as I am also currently doing my honours research, some days I come into the lab to run some experimental work.  

What surprised you most about this degree?

What surprised me the most about this degree is how many different subject areas are covered over four years. Studying food and agribusiness has given me knowledge in areas from accounting, economics, marketing and supply chain, to food chemistry, food security, animal sciences and microbiology.

What are your classmates like?

I've made some life-long friends in this degree; we went on many camps and excursions together so building connections with people was made easier.

What are your lecturers like?

The lecturers have definitely been the best thing about this degree, because we have a small cohort the lecturers typically know most people by name, and they are always willing to provide us with extra help and guidance whenever we need.

Have you been involved in anything outside the classroom?
ie. exchange/placement/student society/sport

Last year, I travelled to Indonesia as part of the New Colombo Plan to conduct research on palm oil sustainability. This was an amazing experience and we visited many places including the Australian Embassy, Green Peace, as well as many smallholder farms and the University of Sumatra.

And I did my internship at Fresh Produce Group, where I have since continued working there as a casual Quality Control Officer.

What are your future career plans?

Next year, I will be relocating to Melbourne and working at Coles as part of their 2021 graduate program, and I have a position in their Coles brand business stream working in product development and product technology.

Any advice for someone who is thinking about applying for Science?

I think if you are interested in studying science, the University of Sydney is a great place with great facilities to do so, and a degree in food and agribusiness is extremely worthwhile and will open many doors for exciting careers in the future.