I’m Shannon, and I’m a USQ student.

When I was 15 I was diagnosed with chronic...with glandular fever which was then...the diagnosis changed when I was 18 and it turned into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Because of those results I ended up failing high school and the impact of that was absolutely severe.
When the letters and the OPs came out I looked at them and went ‘oh my goodness, what am I gunna do with my life?’, as far as I was concerned I was just completely lost.

On the spur of the moment I went to QTAC, applied for USQ and ended up getting accepted into the, what is now known as the Bachelor of Human Services, majoring in Counselling, but was at that stage a Bachelor of Human Services Counselling. That, for me, was a turning point because I was able to start to see my dreams become a reality.

Forums are absolutely fantastic in that you get to connect with students. I met up with one of the girls for coffee with my latest assignment. And it was good not only to be able to put a name to a face, but...swap that, face to a name, but also just being able to share the experiences of being students who have different things going on in their lives and for whatever reason have chosen distance education study and being able to just connect. It’s wonderful to have that friends and family support. Like, I’ve got a friend of mine who will proof-read my assignments for me. I’ve got another friend who is currently in his final year at another university, and he and I are just able to bounce ideas off each other and go, ‘you know what? I’m not alone with this’, and I think that’s the biggest thing; especially for distance education students, the fact that you aren’t alone in the studies. USQ makes sure you aren’t alone in you studies. Sounds a little stalker-ish, but you know what I mean. I’m the first person in our extended family to graduate from uni as well, so that is a huge thing and honestly, I don’t think my parents could be prouder of me, which is fantastic.

Shannon’s Sister: [It’s made it] a lot easier, I think, that everybody at the university has been able to be supportive and understanding, which makes a big difference to studying with CFS.

Shauanagh and Donna have both organised a tutor for me to...help me out and just make sure of the fact that I’m understanding the work. That tutor rang me on the May Day weekend, just to-on the public holiday- just to make sure I was doing okay. As far as I know, you wouldn’t find that kind of service at any other university. And, just even the fact that you’re speaking to someone who gets what it’s like to have an illness, or has been around enough people who actually get it.