The great thing about universities is that every student who
comes through the door has a different story to tell - how they got there, why they
chose to study and where they are going next. Every story is unique and so is
every student.
In our latest CQUniversity Be Magazine there is a great
example of this, in the story of Adeah Kabai.
Adeah is from Sabaii Island, a remote island in the Torres
Strait, located just four kilometres from Papua New Guinea. He talks about his
homesickness after leaving the Island, to attend boarding school in Yeppoon and
the struggles he faced being away from his family at such a young age, before
going on to become a student at CQUniversity.
At the age of 15 Adeah’s life changed when he was asked to
attend an Indigenous engineering summer school at the University of New South
Wales. It was this experience that opened his eyes to the possibilities that
lay ahead and his future career in engineering. It also made him understand that by attaining
a good education he could one day go on to apply his skills to helping the
community of Sabaii Island.
Adeah’s higher education journey initially began in Sydney,
but after a semester he decided that he preferred life in Central Queensland
and was accepted into the CQUniversity Bachelor of Engineering Co-Op program.
The Co-Op program is unique in that it offers students the
chance to embark on paid work experience with organisations in their chosen
industry. In Adeah’s case he gained a cadetship through Rio Tinto’s Indigenous
Cadetship Support Program. Not only did Adeah get to learn through paid,
real-world, work experience but he was also guaranteed full-time employment
after graduation.
Adeah will now be taking up a full-time position with Rio Tinto
in an iron ore mine in the Pilbara, commencing next year. Adeah is a great
ambassador for CQUniversity and I am sure his story will go on to inspire other
Indigenous students living in rural and remote areas.
Click the image above to read more about Adeah's story
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