Ryan Buhagiar

“I had the full Yarra experience that I am very thankful for”

During his school years, Ryan Buhagiar wasn’t always comfortable with change. But throughout his life, change has been a constant.

Most recently, he made the decision to switch from a career as an engineer and project manager to study medicine.

“In my previous job I worked for a water utility as a project manager. I realised I had three or four decades of work left and I didn’t want to do the same thing for the rest of my life. I’d changed as a person,” he says.

“Making big changes have been difficult and challenging but they’ve also been some of the best things to happen to me.”

Ryan spent his entire school years at Yarra and during those years he grew in confidence due to the opportunities presented to him by the school.

“I vividly remember going on camp and doing white water rafting. It was physically hard but I knew that we were lucky to be able to do activities like that,” he says.

He also discovered untapped skills, such as a love of playing cricket and soccer, and a strength in academic subjects including mathematics and physics.

“I wasn’t interested in sport in primary school but during senior school I played soccer and cricket and while I wasn’t particularly good, that wasn’t the point. We were able to hang out with our mates on a Saturday morning and work as a team,” he says.

“I was decent at running but didn’t realise it. I remember during halftime in one game our coach, Mr Manning, told the team to give the ball to me so I could run it down the wing. I did that and we ended up winning and, for the first time, I realised I had some value in the team.”

After graduating, Ryan studied engineering and business at RMIT. He then spent two years project managing major construction projects on Hamilton Island.

“It was another change. I had to move away from Melbourne, make new friends and networks and perform in a new environment. It built more skills,” he says.

Now, Ryan has adjusted to the lifechanging switch from an engineering pathway to a future career in medicine. He’s just completed his first year at Deakin University.

“I just felt that perhaps I ended up in engineering because I hadn’t gone through a proper decision-making process early on. My parents and partner have been encouraging and supported my decision and I’m privileged to be able to go back and study at this time in my life. I’m very proud of getting into graduate medicine.”