Growing up, I never imagined that I would go to university. I was never a high achiever in school, but I had a drive to learn and to use that knowledge to help my people is some way.
After not completing any TEE classes in high school, I thought my opportunities of attending university would be minimal. This was until I heard about the Aboriginal Orientation Course at UWA from attending a camp in high school and received further background information from family members who advised me on how much support was available through the School of Indigenous Studies (SIS).
When applying for the Orientation Course, I had no idea of what I wanted to do in life, what I wanted to study or what was even available. Growing up I had the misconception that you had to be very smart to go to university so my confidence in myself and my abilities to attend or complete university were very low.
The Orientation Course gave me the confidence and motivation to enrol in a Bachelor of Arts degree. The first year of my degree, I had to study extremely hard but I found that the Orientation Course had prepared me to deal with anything that came up. Also, the support I received from SIS was amazing, from day one I was never alone.
I found the Bachelor of Arts degree provided me with lots of different options and opportunities, and allowed me to study topics that I usually would not have. This flexibility allowed me to find my interests and passions, and to decide what direction I wanted to take with my studies and future career paths.
An Arts degree opened my mind to a whole new world that I did not know existed. I would recommend this degree to any person who is unsure about what they want to study, but have a passion for knowledge.