2020 Graduates!

CUC Goulburn congratulates our 2020 Graduates.

2020 had been a rough year for everyone, and an even harder one for university students. With campus closures, changes to course presentations and no graduation ceremonies, our Graduates have achieved so much!

CUC Goulburn had fifteen students Graduate in 2020. We’d like to share with you the stories of three of our students.

Ashley Kirby – Bachelor of Nursing UNE

As I had been an EEN for nine years, I decided, it was time to work hard, have more opportunities and learn new skills. Opportunities presented to me throughout my degree saw me being picked as an Indigenous Scholar, working as a third-year representative and also tutoring Aboriginal students.

I have worked exceptionally hard in my nursing degree and achieved amazing things and a high GPA. My hard work has allowed me to follow my dreams and I have been admitted into UNE to study medicine as of February 2021.

CUC is a fantastic asset to any community as there is such a deficit in resources available to rurally based students. I look forward to participating in the new Alumni/Ambassador program, as I want to help bridge and connect students that do not have the ability to study as on-campus students and who deserve the same supports as those that are on campus. I want to be a voice and advocate for those students so they can achieve their dreams.

James Cameron – PHD Political Science ANU

The highlight of my studies was interviewing sixty-one members of the Scottish Parliament. I interviewed almost half of the parliament with the material greatly adding to my thesis. A struggle of my PhD studies was the statistics, in particular the multivariate analyses, which allow you to control for other factors. This is essential for your statistical result to have any integrity.

Learning the correct way was tough, but I overcame the struggle.

The Lesson? Don’t give up!

The staff at Goulburn CUC were friendly and supportive and I appreciated the warm and welcoming learning environment. Being able to chat to other students who were facing many of the same challenges was wonderful. I submitted my PhD on the twenty-eighth of June, and Country Universities Centre certainly helped me on my journey.

Elise  – Bachelor of Nursing ACU

I have been fortunate to have experienced a multitude of amazing opportunities over the duration of my degree, from international travel to monetary scholarships. My studies have taken me overseas on two occasions. The ACU campus in Rome for an amazing European summer and a nursing placement in Hyderabad, India, which was both a unique cultural and clinical experience.

I am extremely excited to begin my journey as a Registered Nurse and all of the amazing opportunities to come my way and look forward to being a part of the Alumni program at Goulburn CUC.

As an executive member of our local ‘Mulwaree Aboriginal Community’, combined with my representative role as an Indigenous student at University, I have been granted many opportunities to support our Indigenous community. I’ve travelled with university up north to Brisbane to play for the ACU Indigenous games, and have been frequently recognised for my academic achievements as a young Aboriginal woman. I have also enrolled in a Graduate Diploma for 2021 in Indigenous Health Promotion, and hope to apply this higher education to my clinical practice working alongside our mob on Country.