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Steph Altus (Bachelor of Nursing)

Steph Altus

I completed my Nursing degree in March 2008 and currently I am having a break and deciding on what  postgraduate studies I will enrol in 2009.

 

I am a student ambassador for UniSA, I chose to undertake this role this year to promote the uni and encourage others to undertake a degree.


My childhood and early adult years were difficult, I left school after struggling to complete year 11 and became a young mother at 17, having my second child at 22.


Once my children were both at school, I wanted to complete my schooling and be a role model to my two daughters.  The message I wanted to give to them was " Anyone can achieve more than they think they can, if they just believe in themself and keep focused on the goals they have set themself."

 

To teach this to my daughters, I had to live it and be the lesson. I saw the movie "legally blonde and knew that was how I was going to be, and I was going to go to uni and graduate. I didn't even know at that time what degree I wanted to do. I had very little money, but lots of enthusiasm, and surrounded myself with people who believed in me and my abilities. I wrote my goals on coloured cardboard and put them up on my walls. I enrolled at TAFE and did a short course for women and from there I progressed onward to success. I started my degree by doing a Foundation Course and gained a mature aged entry place in Nursing.


I did my degree as an external student and over about a 6 year time frame. It was lots of hard work and I learnt exceptional time management and delegation skills in my home life, to be able to fit in study and working full time and family and a social life as well. Biggest lesson for me was to find balance of all these aspects of my life and to remember to celebrate all the small steps I achieved and to keep it fun!

 

The first semester of the degree was the most challenging part, as it was all new and a lot of it seemed to make no sense or have no structure. I was totally electronically incompetent, which was interesting when my degree was all online. I had never written academic essays or done formal exams or spoken in front of groups before. Everything was so new and scary.  Once I started the second semester, it all began to come together and fit with what we had previously learned.

 

Along the way, I met the most fantastic and encouraging lecturers and fellow students. I gained knowledge and skills that I never thought possible and that first High Distinction for a subject brought sheer joy. I especially loved the workshops and meeting other external students, comparing our difficulties and sharing tips to overcome them. The placements were fantastic for putting the theory into a real life situation and brought with them a learning and comprehension of all we had studied. I found the networking opportunities most beneficial and I am still utilising the contacts from uni to continue moving forward in my career path.


I Graduated in April 2008 and it was the most amazing and slightly surreal experience I have ever had. To be in the graduation cap and gown, up on stage and receiving my parchment was everything I had possibly imagined and more. My two beautiful and supportive daughters were there to see me and share my achievement and tears of sheer joy were shed for my success.

 

It was an amazing feeling to know that all the hard work, and frustration of assignments and trying to understand concepts that were so foreign in the beginning, and each subject passed was finally over and my new career was now ahead of me.


The best advice I can give now for people thinking of doing a degree or just at the start of their studies is;

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