On his way … Dat Cao has come a long way during his eight years in Australia. 41833 Picture: PAUL JEFFERS
By Nicole Precel
LAVERTON student Dat Cao hopes that one day he’ll treat western suburbs residents as a doctor, and he’s on his way as he accepts an offer to Melbourne University’s Biomedicine degree.
The former P-12 Laverton College student was one of thousands of Victorian students to receive university places last week.
It has been a long journey for Dat, 18, who arrived from Vietnam eight years ago with no English skills.
He came to Australia with his immediate family to reunite with extended family including his grandmother, aunties and uncles.
He attended Western Language School to improve his English skills while plunging straight into Australian school.
“I would say, I had to work harder than my brother and my sisters since I had no English skills and my brother and my sister have understanding of English already,” he said.
Although he has missed his friends in Vietnam and hasn’t yet had a chance to visit them, he said his dedication to his education was his priority.
He received an Access Melbourne Scholarship, a Melbourne University scholarship to give students who had experienced ongoing difficulties during their school years an opportunity to undertake tertiary education.
“I would like to study more advanced to get a medical degree, I’d like to be a doctor or dentist something like that,” he said.
“I want to help people who are disadvantaged in their health and on the western side and rural suburbs who are unable to go to a doctor due to their low amount of money,” he said.
