Elle: I’m Elle Green, and I’m a USQ student.

So I was originally from Victoria, a town called Melton, moved up to Hervey Bay about 7 years ago. It was a fairly quiet town back then. Didn’t really know a lot about USQ, I was only in primary school at the time. Shopping centres were few and far, but today it’s booming, it really is. So I finished year 12 at Yarrangan High, and throughout the year I had no idea what I wanted to do. I went to a lot of career expos and university expos and I came to the Open Day at USQ, and that really decided it for me. I applied for a Faculty of Business High Achiever Scholarship, and that meant that I had to achieve a scholarship of between 1 and 6, and I was successful. It was really exiting. That’s about half my course paid for. I really liked the psychology behind marketing, just understanding how people buy, and why they buy, and being able to manipulate people, it’s pretty cool! Just knowing when I buy something, why I chose to buy it. It’s really awesome.

Mum and dad were really excited that I chose to go to USQ. They were going to be supportive no matter where I went. They were excited that they were going to be able to see what I was achieving at university, what I was going to become, and who I was going to be.

Elle’s Dad: Obviously, rents in Brisbane now, we could only give her so much, but she wouldn’t be able to afford it. She’d have to work full time, and I didn’t really want her to do that. She made the right choice, I thought anyway.

Elle’s Mum: She’s worked very, very hard over the years, Elle. Ever since Prep onwards and she’s always had her head down and...

Elle: Bum up!

Elle’s Mum: Yes, and got into her studies without any problems whatsoever, so...

Elle: I think it’s become a passion. Studying.

Elle’s Mum: She gets very bored if she’s not studying, sometimes.

Elle: Oh, it’s pretty chill living at home. They have food on the table for me, and lunch made for me still. Yep, it’s a great place. Having home, really.

Elle’s Dad: Spoilt rotten! Well she’s got a boyfriend and she spends a lot of time at night time down there, so...

Elle: Most of the time I tend to study at home, it’s convenient, there is food in the pantry when I want it sort of thing! But I really do like coming to the 24 hour computer labs at USQ. They’re dead silent. You’ve got your photocopiers, everything’s there. The internet is never going to die on you, basically. You can just set yourself up and bring in your coffee, and it’s really...I find it really peaceful actually.

This is my inspiration wall, and also my organisation wall. So it’s everything that I want to do, or might want to do in the future. On the other wall is the map of the world, which is where I put the stars for where I want to travel. Love to actually travel while I’m at uni if I can save up the money and what not. There’s lots of scholarship offers at USQ to go over to sister unis and still be credited, so I think that’s a really good opportunity to get a bit of culture, but still knuckle down and study, while having a bit of fun at the same time.

Uni is defiately better than what i thought it would be. I thought there would be no help, no support, but there is, there’s lots. You are very independant, and you have to do things yourself sometimes., but if you have a trouble there’s always other lecturers, or your friends or even classmates to help you. It just opens up so many doors, which i’m really, really impressed with. I just want to try it all!