Rites of passage: University’s lessons extend beyond the lecture halls

Starting at university can cause trepidation, excitement or even eagerness for what is ahead. 

For Lee Constable, TV presenter, science communicator and ANU alumna, speaking to a crowd of new students at the 2025 Commencement Address gave her a moment to reflect on the confusing and at times messy parts of university life. 

“Lucky for me, about the time that I started university, all of us joined this platform called Facebook and had no awareness of privacy,” Constable joked. 

 “I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures taken on a digital camera in this city that, frankly, give me quite a horrifying picture of who I was and what I was up to.” 

Constable said that while the photos of these moments may cause slight embarrassment now, they were good memories that shaped who she has become. 

“One of the things that I’ve noticed in looking back through photos of different society events, different social events, different field trips for environmental science, is that it’s not just the content of what we were learning in those classes, but the interactions with other people around me that were changing me.  

“And I’m glad to say for the better.”  

Life lessons

Lee Constable has hosted numerous TV shows on science and sustainability, including War on Waste and children’s science show Scope. While at ANU, she studied a Bachelor of Science and Arts, and although she thought these were two worlds with no overlap, she soon realised the importance of bridging these fields.  

“All knowledge is connected and should be connected, because throughout that process of studying drama and sociology and science, I saw so many ways that all these disciplines could teach each other and could learn from each other,” she said. 

“The best work and the best ideas come about when people actually celebrate other forms of knowledge, not just the types of knowledge that you have.”  

Constable was one of 16 graduating students in her high school, and one of two that moved on to tertiary studies after high school. Comparing this with national statistics, she found on average about 40 per cent of people make the transition from school to university.   

She recalled a conversation with a peer “who was from a very different schooling background to me” who could not believe there were people from her school that did not go on to university.  

“For some of you, this will be, like me, the first time that someone from your close family has gone to university. For some of you, you’re learning in a language that isn’t your first. For some of you, you’re here from another country, another culture, from a place where more people look like you than you are seeing around you,” Constable said. 

“Please remember where you came from, and please remember that your difference and your sameness can be your strength and can be the strength in others.” 

But even while bridging worlds – science and arts, city and country – Constable said the best advice she had was figuring out what advice to take or to ignore. Constable admitted ignoring advice on topics including choosing a career based on potential income; changing how she speaks for TV and avoiding peas in pasta dishes (her words: “rack off”). 

“I hope that you’ll find the strength to trust yourself, but to also challenge yourself,” she said. 

Transition moments

ANU Vice-Chancellor and President Genevieve Bell said that milestone events such as commencement are rites of passage.   

“This week, it’s the beginning of a moment for all of you. In anthropology, we call this a rite of passage or a transition moment – when you move from one state to a different state,” Bell said. 

“For some of you, that means you have actually moved here from a different state – New South Wales, Queensland, overseas – but for many it’s about transitioning to a different state in your life.  

“And in this moment where you get to think about who you want to be on this part of the journey.” 

The virtue of a university, Bell said, is that it is not just a place of learning or intellectually productive conversations but a place that allows a journey of growth. 

“Having a moment like this as a beginning is about giving you, in some ways … permission to be different than who you were before, and have this be different than where you were before.”