1 week Ago By Taylor Dodge
With two young children, life is routinely busy for Border couple, Jessica and Curtis Boland. or signup to continue reading But they also added tertiary study into their daily load. After years of hard work, the pair in Wagga on Friday Mrs Boland grew up in Wagga and met her husband, who hails from Wodonga, online about a year into her studies.
The 27-year-old completed the course over six years - through two pregnancies, a move to Wodonga and a wedding - and on April 11 graduated with a bachelor of nursing. Mr Boland, 28, graduated after four years, with a bachelor of agriculture. Mrs Boland said raising two children, aged one and three, was chaotic, but no doubt it had been worth it.
"We've only known chaos," she said. "It's been great though ..
. it's been challenging at times, but I wouldn't change it for anything, honestly." While navigating life as a first-time mother could be tricky, Mrs Boland wanted to continue her studies no matter what.
"I knew I wanted to study and didn't see it as an option to stop," she said. "Thankfully, the university has an online option so I could continue to study when I had the kids. "It's a massive relief and I'm excited to finally be done.
" Mr and Mrs Boland were among 550 of this year's graduates celebrated at a ceremony at Charles Sturt Wagga on Friday. Also graduating was Canberra's Anita Nemarich, who works for the Australian Defence Force in the navy. Ms Nemarich studied medical science with a stream in pathology over a nine-year period via long distance.
"I live in Canberra and I was interested in CSU because they have an excellent distance program," she said. Obtaining her degree was a hobby for Ms Nemarich, who plans to continue serving in the navy, rather than put her qualification to use in the near future. "I'm a full-time member of the ADF so doing a degree is challenging at the best of times, when you couple that with spending time out at sea on a warship, it can add some complexities, so to be here today means so much to me," she said.
"I will continue to serve in the navy and hopefully start looking for the next degree I would like to study." Ms Nemarich also received the undergraduate university medal, which is awarded to students who obtain a grade point average of 6.75 or higher.
This year's come from all over the country including Wagga, Darwin, Cootamundra, Kalgoorlie, the Gold Coast, Grafton, Bowral, Goulburn, Griffith, Albury, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, Temora and the Blue Mountains. Charles Sturt vice-chancellor and president Professor Renée Leon said the age diversity of the graduates also leaned towards an older range. "We have quite a mature population of students who have graduated, who you will see are all ages from in their 20s to well into their 50s," she said.
Professor Leon said nursing and teaching were often the biggest group of graduates to come out of CSU. "Here at Wagga we have a lot of teaching graduates but also a lot of social workers, a lot of radiation sciences, other health sciences and nurses, so really they're the lifeblood of our communities," she said. Your story matters, your voice deserves to be heard and I would love to help you share it.
I have six years of experience as a Journalist with Australian Community Media covering an array of topics, with a key focus on breaking news and crime and a passion for people. E: taylor.dodge@austcommunitymedia.
com.au. Your story matters, your voice deserves to be heard and I would love to help you share it.
I have six years of experience as a Journalist with Australian Community Media covering an array of topics, with a key focus on breaking news and crime and a passion for people. E: taylor.dodge@austcommunitymedia.
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