Graduates embrace future
Budding young professionals have officially moved into the next stage of their lives, celebrating their graduation at the UniSA Whyalla Campus on Friday.
24 Business, Health, Social Work and Engineering students graduated at the ceremony, held at 3pm inside the Middleback Arts Centre.
Harsco Operations Manager and former Businesswoman of the Year Ashley Stilling was the event’s guest speaker, and delivered an inspiring speech to the graduates in attendance.
Mrs Stiling, who studied a business degree at the Whyalla campus, said job pathways for graduates in regional areas were not limited.
“There are so many opportunities and benefits that are presented to you so it’s all about being open and receptive to those,” he said.
“You never know what they could lead to and how you could build your career off of them.”
Mrs Stiling said she enjoyed inspiring students to achieve, having built her career from her UniSA degree.
“Retaining people in Whyalla is essential to the viability and sustainability of the community, so encouraging people to study regionally and give back to the town is definitely something I’m an advocate for,” she said.
Nursing graduate Rosie Wallace originally began her degree at the City East Campus in Adelaide, but said she found there were more hands-on opportunities in Whyalla.
“I preferred Whyalla because in Adelaide there were 500 of us but here there were 11, so we were all very close compared to Adelaide,” she said.
“It was great how many placements they put us on, we had six months in the wards in total, so we got to experience different areas such as aged care, surgical, and theatre,” she said.
Ms Wallace has currently secured a grad position at the Port Pirie Hospital, and is also on rotation at the Cyrstal Brook Hospital.
Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey and Member for Giles Eddie Hughes were both in attendance.
Pro-Vice Chancellor Allan Evans said graduation was a significant life event for students entering the workforce.
“We know students really enjoy the day,” he said.
“Anyone who has completed a degree know it is really hard work, particularly these days where people are juggling a whole lot of challenges in their lives, completing a degree is a fantastic achievement.”
Mr Evans said UniSA had experienced solid growth at the Whyalla campus despite the city experiencing an economic downturn.
“We’ve got more students entering our nursing and social work programs, and soon we’ll be offering additional programs not just in education but also in our business degrees,” he said.
“A healthy bit of growth is great to see.”