On Our Own Tracks

How I found a way to living my own educational dream..

Extending your education, the chance to  move forward, getting the right marks and your future.  Are you currently reading these words and relating to everyone of them as the reality of 2018 is sinking in now that your holiday period is coming to an end? Well, let me tell you about some of the tips I have developed along my journey as I embark on my sixth and last year of my undergraduate degree.

For me, my story began just like many of yours may have, when I was about eleven. At this time I remember that, as well as having my eldest sister beginning to seriously think about her own journey, I was going into my senior years of primary school. My friends and I were slowly starting to think about our own futures. Although my thoughts were centred on becoming a teacher (which is not the career I’m aiming towards at the moment) the thought did get me thinking, that in order  to achieve my ultimate goal, I needed to first achieve the best marks I possibly could in order to reach University. Looking back now, I can say that I remembered this goal throughout the rest of my years of schooling and treated every assignment as a stepping stone on my way.

It was after completing these assignments and then a further 7 years at high school (due to doing my Higher School Certificate over 2 years) that the possibility of this dream started to slip into my reality. It seemed like everything I had experienced for the past several years was now dependant upon my ATAR score, this one single figure. Although I didn’t realise at the time, it was the moment that I received this final mark that I appreciate the most. You see, to my surprise, this particular mark was much lower than I expected. I remember this took me about five months to get over. The feeling was so debilitating. I was so shaken, lost and just felt so down on myself. The future I had planned had suddenly disappeared with no track out at all. It was then that everything changed.

It was while I was going to a day program at Northcott that I was fortunate enough to suddenly have all of these opportunities pop up at once, and all of them were too perfect for me to not take. I remember at this time that I had developed a strategy in my head just to say ‘Yes’. To say ‘Yes’ to every opportunity that came to me. Remarkably enough, these opportunities provided me with literally incredible experiences, and further more, provided me with the exact skills and knowledge I still currently use in my writing and University assignments today.

To top it off, this also provided me employment with the most wonderful team of both fantastic friends and colleagues, all of which I still have today.

It was when I was polishing up the skills I learned from these opportunities, that I started to casually look online for pre-courses I could do in order to finally set foot in a university. It was during this process that I discovered a short ‘Preparation for Success Course’ at Southern Cross University . This was either a three or six month course and was entirely online. As you can imagine, this was the perfect course for me and not only gave me a way into University, but it also provided me with another set of new skills. This insight included the opportunity for me to truly evaluate how many units I could manage for each semester, which ended up being two.

It was after completing this pre-course with full credits and having a 6 month gap that I was finally looking at the letter I had been waiting for since Primary School. I was at last reading the words that  I had been accepted into my dream course on campus at Western Sydney University .

Six years on and about to finish my undergraduate degree, I can tell you my dream was literally everything I imagined. Obviously there are those hectic weeks but I can still 100% say it has truly been worth everything.

My journey has been made significantly easier because Western Sydney University has gone literally above and beyond to ensure the University is fully equipped for students who have a whole range of disabilities. For me personally, this has meant I have access to: a fulltime practical assistant; scanned and digitalised books; access to disabled bathrooms and amazing, extremely friendly and fully accepting staff and students.

It is with these positive influences along with amazing technology and wonderful support from my family and friends that I can say I am loving living my dream and am so thankful for those who have supported me through the last five years.

I am so excited to be finishing my last year of my undergraduate degree. I plan to then study a graduate degree in communications, majoring in journalism the year after.