GALLERY: Geraldton Universities Centre graduation

Geraldton-based Bachelor of Nursing graduate and Yamatji woman Ashlee McEwan was recognised for a near-perfect academic track record at her Queens Park Theatre graduation ceremony on Thursday evening. She decided to become a nurse after seeing family members have difficult experiences in the hospital system. “I became a nurse so I could do things differently,” she said. Her degree was provided by the University of Southern Queensland but delivered through the Geraldton Universities Centre. Last week, she was named a recipient of a faculty medal for her university's Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences. Miss McEwan is very close to her family and said the support of her parents had helped her knuckle down, study hard and make such an impressive academic achievement. She said she was not sure if she would have gone to uni if it was not for the centre. “To go somewhere I’ve never lived before and be in a big classroom of strangers, it freaked me out,” she said. Miss McEwan was not always an academic achiever and struggled to qualify for entry into the course. She said she did not like going to school but found her passion in her nursing studies. “Doing something you like makes it so much easier to do well,” she said. Miss McEwan is working at Geraldton Regional Hospital and aspires to work as an intensive care nurse. “We are all so proud of her,” academic nursing co-ordinator Dr Stephanie Millns Sizer said. “She was a teacher’s dream ... it comes as no surprise she was awarded the faculty medal.” Miss McEwan was one of 46 students who took part in the graduation ceremony. The students all attended Geraldton Universities Centre, which hosts courses from the University of Southern Queensland and Central Queensland University. Graduating student and Nhunda woman Allison Morgan said she had decided to study nursing after watching her father struggle with kidney failure. “I became a nurse because I want to close the gap,” she said. “I want to be that nurse that facilitates better outcomes for patients like my dad.” Nurses, teachers, environmental scientists, psychologists, social workers and accountants made up the 2019 graduating class. Geraldton Universities Centre chair Jody Beven said the graduates were already making vital contributions to the workforce.