FEATURE
A Story of Discovery and Exploration by Claire Radbourne
knowing you only have six months until you finish was tough enough. Add to that the pink hair and being the only non-Aussie at the school and you have a rough picture of the next six months. Post-completion (if you can call it that) of my Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), I started a one-year advanced Diploma in Business, Legal. In all honesty, this was the last course on my VTAC list and was a five-minute walk from my house. Knowing how much I had struggled at school I didn’t see the next 12 months going particularly well but jumped in the deep end anyway. My first day I fell in with a great group and we stuck together for the next 12 months, working together on projects and studying together on weekends and after classes. I finished the year off as one of the course’s top performing students and was offered a direct entry into a Bachelor of Laws which I accepted.
In April 2020 I launched my own business, which in many ways was a little unbelievable. People called out of the blue to ask for my thoughts and opinions, they listened – really listened and valued what I had to say. I’ve learned more about myself in the last couple of months than in the previous year. But the truth is that my career journey has not been conventional. At times I felt simultaneously lost and found, I’ve failed more times than I care to remember, there have been late nights and early mornings, failed attempts, technical failures and just all-round disasters.
That was the leap of a lifetime – first year law is tough enough, but standing in that courtyard on day one with 150 other students who had attained the 90+ ENTER (Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank) score was intimidating and I’m not ashamed to say I was terrified. I felt bound for failure. Above all odds and keeping friends close, I settled in relatively well and after a bumpy start (read as “failed Tax Law”) I got into the swing of things. Reflecting on it now, asking for help at the library in the first week was a smart move. I signed up to every extra workshop or This is a story of discovery and exploration. class there was, learning how to reference and I’m 35, and moved to Melbourne from London in access support services if you needed them. I 2001 with zero friends, having just failed every knew that I wasn’t going to find the academic side exam possible at high school. Traditional education easy, so I figured getting ahead in other areas was did not work for me and I had a really hard time at a good start. school. My biggest mindset shift at university was I arrived in a new country with really no dreams, understanding self-motivation. There was no one no plans and feeling pretty lost. I was too young to to encourage or check in on you if you didn’t hand go into higher education, so I went to high school things in on time or you were struggling – this in the western suburbs of Melbourne for about was your journey and you had to grow the hell six months. Moving to a new school, aged 17, and www.graduatehouse.com.au
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