A missed opportunity to enrol in first choice electives and the ‘accidental discovery’ of study funding has driven one young Port Macquarie student to follow an exciting and challenging career path.
Kate Levitzke is a creative 19-year-old and had always believed that she would take up an artistic career. Her original choices for Year 11 and 12 electives supported this, but she was told they were no longer available to her.
“I went through my other options and all that was left was Biology. As it turned out, this was the right choice. My teacher was really passionate and her enthusiasm changed my mind about following a career in science,” Kate said.
Upon completing her HSC, Kate spent her summer holiday at an intense bridging course for Maths, to make sure she had the grades to enrol in a degree in Biomedical Science. If successful, Kate knew she would need to leave home and move to Brisbane, a costly endeavour.
Kate said, “The University didn’t have any on-campus accommodation, as it was right in the city, so I knew I needed to save my money for moving and supporting myself as well as text books, a new laptop and other things I needed to study. It was going to be very expensive!”
She happened to stumble across a flyer from the Hastings Education Fund that her younger brother had bought home from school and immediately applied for funding.
“I am so happy with the assistance from HEF. The transition would have been much harder if I didn’t have their support. I’ve now settled into my new routine at uni and hope to one day return home to do medical research and help those in my community. It would be a nice way to say ‘thanks’ to all the people that believed in me,” Kate said.
