Raelyn [Ray] Coleman is a mother of five under 14 years of age so doing anything other than feeding, clothing, driving, cleaning, shopping, and drop-offs is a miracle. Mac Cullen is from a Karara family with a long history of sheep shearing and has almost finished his biology degree. Jayla Windle graduated high school last year, moved to Warwick, got a part time job and started a degree in counselling.
None of them might be able to do this without the CUC Southern Downs. Or, as the students call it, their ‘uni hub’.
Ray is finishing up her Bachelor of Nursing at UniSQ.
“I have been chasing this dream since year 7 and have had multiple attempts at completing this degree, facing multiple challenges between.”
Ray recently quit a full time job to focus on the final yards to graduation
“The CUC has been the best place to achieve this dream as it is equipped for students in all walks of life to focus and achieve their dream.”
She says staff have played “an enormous role” in her journey. The facility not only supports her studies, but social connections, learning material, coaching, and “occasionally therapist when you need it the most”.
“They create a positive environment with vibrant personalities sand infectious laughter”.
It’s easy to say the CUC has been a success, or has attracted 200 students to its study centre but looking at the individual circumstances of some of those students brings home the reality of what a difference having such a facility in the Southern Downs really means for people wanting to achieve a tertiary education far from any university.
Mac, 22, hopes to get in the field of plant science and genetics in the agricultural space.
“I would love to contribute to the region,” Mac told the Town & Country Journal. “I’ve got a real passion for plant genetics”.
He explains that having a place to study with other uni students, to sit down and discuss projects and due dates and not feel alone, has meant an enormous amount to him. While he does still travel to Toowoomba to UniSQ, where one of the leading agricultural research centres is located, he does most of his work at the CUC.
Lorna Moore, the CUC student services coordinator, says Mac is a natural peer mentor and is always willing to help other students. But it is the CUC centre that gathers the uni students together.
Jayla Windle is going through the typical first-year difficulties of transitioning from high school to university where it’s up to you to sink or swim. She’s had a passion for counselling work and her determination is clear. She’s left her parents in another part of the state and moved back to Warwick where she grew up, taken a job and started uni at UniSQ.
She says she doesn’t think she could have done it without the uni hub.
“It’s been a massive help having the uni hub here and especially with Lorna and Alyce [the centre manager]”, Jayla says. “They’ve really helped me a lot and supported me and motivated me, so it’s been great”.
Having other students around her gives Jayla “perspective” that “we’re all there to do the same thing and we’re not alone. We have students who are struggling with studies and prioritising life balance.”
Jayla calls it a “safe environment”.
“They really have given me great advice and really did push me to do my best in reaching my goal.”
Jayla is at the start of her path to a degree but is already feeling on more certain ground. Her parents are thrilled and she says she’s “happy with my life for where I’m at now.”
The stories of these and the other 197 students enrolled at the CUC must be music to the ears of Vic Pennisi who is chair of the CUC Southern Downs. Mr Pennisi often tells the story about how he put his three children, now long grown and with children of their own, through uni at the same time, which was a steep financial and emotional commitment. All three have ended up with successful careers and now Vic can watch 200 more students make their way to the same endline.
With the great help of Lorna Moore and Alyce Lotz, of course.
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