This is Amelia. Amelia loves school. Her favorite thing about school is playing hopscotch with her friends. Her second favorite thing about school is maths class. She likes maths class so much, that at home, she sets up her toys and teaches them what she learned that day. As she gets older, she daydreams of being a maths teacher when she grows up. Her teachers tell her that she just needs to do the HSC and go to university. She comes from a neighborhood that is very close to one of the best universities in her country. But this neighborhood is one of the most disadvantaged areas in her city. Sometimes Amelia feels like there's a wall blocking her from her dreams. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001, there's a link between low socioeconomic background and continuing in education past compulsory schooling. Furthermore Boddy 2009 says that though educational opportunity and achievement for women and girls generally has improved considerably, Foster 2005, argues that there's still disparities between male and female students in Australia in terms of educational achievement. Amelia's not alone. In fact as Boddy suggests, the overall progress of women in education worldwide is not seen in disadvantaged communities. Which means that after year 11, Amelia leaves school and gets a job in a shop because she's good at adding up figures and checking the tills. Her dreams of going to Uni fade further and further away. Deloitte Access Economics 2012 points out that, like Amelia, early school leavers are at a much greater risk of remaining unemployed in the longer term. Earning considerably lower wages when they are employed and are likely to struggle to accumulate wealth over their life span. However, there is evidence that mentoring, by opening a door in that wall, makes a drastic difference for students with the statistical odds stacked against them. Thus, instead of not knowing anyone who's attending university, Amelia could meet a young woman enrolled in maths education at the university. Who could come and visit her at school. She'd have a friend to guide her, introduce her to people, take her to a maths lecture, and answer her questions. And instead of leaving school, Amelia would finish the HRC and enroll in a maths education degree course. But how can give girls like Amelia access to the mentors that could make a difference in their lives. Gateways for Girls is a program that aims to help girls from low socioeconomic areas to access university more easily through peer mentoring relationships. Girls in the nearby community are matched with female undergraduate mentors at the university who are enrolled in a subject of interest. They visit each other at school and start to get to know each other. Given time, space, and support, relationships blossom, questions are answered, girls are empowered to pursue their dreams. They go to uni themselves and our role models for girls in their home communities, continuing the cycle of the impact of mentoring. And eventually, if Amelia has a daughter of her own, she will have fewer obstacles to achieving her dreams. [MUSIC]