I’m Ricky Mead, and I’m a USQ graduate.

I didn’t do too well at school. I was the class rat-bag, you know, I never thought that I could get a university degree. You know, I never had that confidence, or that knowledge. My first introduction to USQ was through the Tertiary Preparation Program. I was over at the Japanese gardens feeding the ducks, and I saw the USQ Open Day signs, and I thought ,‘this is great! Free stuff!’, so I cruised on over here, met with the Tertiary preparation people, and yeah, from that day forth my life was changed.

I come from a meat working background. A very tough, male dominated type background, so saying that I wanted to become a teacher, and that I really want to teach the naughty kids...okay, for me that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I had my first child, I was working full time, I had bills to pay. When I spoke to my partner and she said, “Why? Why do are you doing this?”, and I explained that this was my passion; this is what I wanted to do. At the start, like anything there was hesitation, but we did it together, and it has paid off one hundred times fold.

I got into teaching, because the way I thought about it, I can teach one kid to read and write, I teach them their ABCs and their 123s then they could go on to find the cure for cancer. They could be the next prime minister, or their kids’ kids’ could be the next prime minister. You can change a whole generation. You can break a cycle, you know. For my studies I have taught in corrective services, in detention, I have taught kids with behaviour management issues, I’ve then gone on and I now teach youth work at TAFE. Teaching people on the front line- teaching teachers, teaching youth workers, how to interact and how to empower kids like myself when I was back there.

I say to people, if you are thinking about tertiary education, it is a big leap of faith, but the Tertiary Preparation Program at USQ will bend over backwards to help you. My stepfather, I still remember, he came up to me and said “why? Why the hell are you doing this? Why are you putting yourself through it? You are not going to achieve anything out of this. It’s not going to work mate”.

Life now is great, okay. I go to a job I love, I get to spend a lot more time at home, when I am home I get to focus on the things that matter the most. Okay, I get to do something that I feel I am personally making changes in peoples’ lives. It’s ...yeah, I couldn’t ask for anything better.