Nursing dreams finally realised
by Michèle Nardelli
Helen
Sanders left school at 16. By 19 she was married and at 20 she welcomed
the first of her seven children. Now 40 years after leaving school,
she’s just graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing – fulfilling a passion
that had been on hold for a very long time.
And as if getting through wasn’t enough of an achievement, Sanders (pictured right) completed the program with top marks, taking out the Royal College of Nursing highest achieving graduate award and the Margaret Grace McNair AM Foundation Prize.
In the few short months since finishing her degree she was offered three graduate entry positions at SA hospitals and accepted a position with Wakefield Hospital.
For Sanders the only downside has been leaving university.
"I loved every bit of it – the lectures, the books, the research, the assignments. If you are really passionate about something, it’s not arduous at all," Sanders said.
Sanders entered uni by sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test. She’d had no engagement with education or even computer technology until she started back on the study path but she had always wanted to be a nurse.
"When my husband left a large company to work at home as an accountant and my youngest was old enough, I saw a window of opportunity to try to fulfil that ambition," she said.
"I feel privileged that I live in a time where there is no age discrimination – this is something my mother could never have done at the same stage of her life. I’ve had enormous support from my husband and my family and that too has played an important part in my success.
"In a way this is just the beginning – I still have books out on the kitchen table. There is always something new to learn and I am doing that in new and exciting ways now that I have graduated."
More information about careers in nursing is available on (08) 8302 1805 or online at www.unisa.edu.au/nur