Mary:
My name is Mary, and my uni is USQ.

Today is the end of a long chapter of study – I’ve just finished my teaching degree. It’ll probably be the last day on-campus for me.
I just finished a career in forensics. Time was right for a change and teaching seemed like a good idea. Every year we would go to schools and give some little mini lectures on forensic science – the kids were just so switched on and keen to learn about new things and I really enjoyed those experiences. My son has just started High School this year and I think I’ve certainly grown with him, and that has certainly steered me towards the classroom as well – I really enjoy discovering the world all over again through his eyes.

After looking around at what universities I could go to, USQ was my choice – it offered a lot of flexibility that I really needed as a sole parent who was also working. USQ did that ‘cause I was able to study on-campus as well as some subjects I was able to do online. Because they have online discussion boards, you could interact with other students in that format and your lecturers as well – you could contact them through the StudyDesk or email them directly, and they were always happy to respond and help you out. Yeah, you could share your ideas with other students through that as well. I still felt like I was part of the USQ community while I was doing those subjects, they certainly gave you a lot of information and direction whenever you needed it.

A great thing about USQ at Springfield is that and enormous variety of students, so it didn’t matter whether you were straight from school, mature age, or somewhere in between – you managed to find more people like you and it also lead to some pretty interesting friendships ‘cause you had that diversity in the student body.

The smaller class sizes meant you got to know the other students pretty quickly and you also got to know your lecturers really well. And, you know, even if you couldn’t get the answers sort of in the lectures – you had your fellow class mates to talk to and glean information from and share information with them - and I guess we formed some pretty good relationships because of the intimacy of this sort of campus, you know, catch up for coffee or dinner or things and like that. You form some really good friendships while I was here.

It was a good fit for me because I really enjoyed that smaller atmosphere that I could get here. It was a great campus to come to because it was all still quite new and modern. The facilities were terrific, everything I needed was here, the library and everything was really nice. And the staff as well were very approachable. Being a fairly intimate campus here, you can find the staff easily and make appointments to see them – it was never a problem, yeah so you didn’t get lost in the crowd like you could at some other places.

Lecturer:
So tell me, where you’re up to?

Mary:
Ok, well I’ve started work already.

Lecturer:
Great

Mary:
I’ve got a part time contract as a learning support teacher.

Lecturer:
We’ll don’t forget to stay in touch. There is always help here. You know we love to hear how you’re going and what’s happening in your life.

Mary:
I guess at the start at the start of the degree, three years seemed like it was going to be an eternity. But now that it’s finished, it seems like it was quite a short amount of time. When I look back to that, but I look forward to where I’m going to go to now, the future is just enormous in front of me.

It will be nice actually to, to walk away knowing that I’ve achieved what I wanted to.