Me Go to Uni - No Way! | A Computer | Going Off Campus | Fame | Going On Campus | Hidden Surprises | Exams | Graduation | A Medal! | After All That |Uni Links |
On leaving school I thought to myself - nope Uni isn't for me. Job, money, fast car (the Datsun) that will do me. Enrolled in the Hydrography Certificate in the early 80's while a trainee with the the Sydney water Board at the time. Over the years I often derided (in a friendly manner of course) those I had the pleasure of meeting who had been to Uni. Jokes often went like "You Engineers may have designed it but us technicians make it work!"
In the mid 90's I mellowed and felt I needed a challenge - yes and unbelievably to many I know, I enrolled in Uni. To make matters worse I wasn't going to be on campus but I was to undertake a degree via distance education - hadn't I had enough of that when I did my Hydrography Certificate!!??
At the time I was looking for an extension to my water resources experience and felt that something in the environmental strand would suit me. (Back to Top)
Having enrolled to commence in 1995 it was time to start re-organsing how I was to live life so that studying by distance education could be achieved. I received my first study package and something horrible dawned on me - I needed a computer. After years of avoiding having a computers at home I had no choice. I had to get the technology. I wanted a Mac - Mr Microsoft had caused me more than enough problems at work but guess what Macs were being used in the Arty Farty courses - not engineering and science - obviously Engineers were continuing to be happy with systems that didn't work! So a Windows based PC was ordered and the blue screens of death awaited me. (Back to Top)
Off campus wasn't easy. The expectation in the study guides was that a subject would take up between 10 and 20 hrs a week. Taking two subjects a semester meant up to 40 hrs a week. Dividing that down meant at least 5 hrs a day! Of course this would vary depending on the subject difficulty but the concept of off campus uni study was starting to look daunting. I suppose that why they have semester breaks as well - to give the off campus mob time to keep working hard while holding down full time jobs, bringing the kids up and somewhere try and find some time to go out to dinner with the missus!
When to do the time became an issue - I tried after dinner but found that my mind kept going into the night crunching over problems I had encountered with the assignments. Then came the attitude - if I wake up early I will get up and get some study done before I go to work. That's when the 4 am starts began and I am still finding it hard to shrug off that early morning insomnia!
Accessing Uni libraries in Tumut was virtually a non event - books could be ordered via the Deakin library but time with them was short and you never really knew if you had chosen the right text until you opened it and had the sinking feeling that there was no way you were going to be able to quote (let alone plagiarise!) a single line out of it!
Luckily while in Tassie I had the comfort of quiet afternoons in the University of Tasmania library at Sandy Bay - many a peaceful afternoon was spent browsing texts in the wonderful quiet environs of the library. (Back to Top)
Luckily many of the times I was required to go to Deakin for on campus tutes and week live ins occurred when I was still in Tumut. A week here and there to complete pracs on campus were occasional , but the weekend trips were right pains in the backside. Luckily in Tassie I had the opportunity to team up with a Stephen Langlois who was also studying at the same time and we were able to arrange some weekends to do lab analysis work at labs in Tassie - cheaper and easier than flying to Melbourne for a couple of days. (Back to Top)
Shortly after moving to Tassie the study world moved to dizzying new heights - I was asked to star in the Deakin Off campus guide for 2000. See the result here . (Back to Top)
Early in my second year in 1996 I received a letter from the Uni inviting me to an evening of drinks and nibblies and the opportunity to nosh around with those guys that wear those funny hats at special Uni occasions - I had won a University Prize. It was a Shell Environmental prize that scored me not only a medal but a cheque for a couple of hundred dollars!
The furthest thing from my mind when I enrolled was the concept of actually winning academic prizes! In the years to come I would score another three academic prizes making a net result of four prizes in five years. Two Geelong Cement awards and two Shell Environmental awards. (Hmmmm cement and petroleum companies don't normally conjure up the word environmental in my mind) (Back to Top)
In the early years exams meant driving over a hundred kilometres to Charles Sturt Uni at Wagga Wagga - a drag to say the least, and here I was relying on the Datsun to get me to the exams on time (she didn't let me down) (Back to Top)
By mid 2000 I had completed the course and was eligible to graduate and in late 2000 I lined up with other people doing the hat and cloak thing and had my 20 seconds on stage shaking hands with the VC and receiving my degree.
In early 2001 I received another letter from the Uni - another prize! Even after having finished Uni the year before! This time I was to receive "The Alfred Deakin Medal - for outstanding academic achievement". This time I thought I'd go to the nibblies and drinks to accept this award - more hat and cloak thing but this time I got my academic gown hire for free. But there was something different about this prize to the others - no money! While a grander prize than the others it didn't put a zac in the pocket! Anyway I must admit that I am very proud of having got this one as well.
Nana and Grandad Clayton came along on this occasion to see me get this one. (Back to Top)
Well here I now am sitting here with a Uni degree after years of bagging mates who went to uni!
It wasn't easy - particularly as I timed the study with a couple of moves around Australia to take up new jobs as well as starting a family. Must say that Ann was very patient with me over this time!
Dare I say that I am thinking about a Masters!? (Back to Top)
