Unstoppable Laura (Issue 23, 2012)
If there is an example of persistence and working hard to overcome obstacles, it would be La Trobe business student Laura Curwood.
Laura would wake up at 6am to get to the Melbourne campus, study as hard and as late as she possibly could each day in between meeting with teachers who gave her the support she says she needed to succeed.
This came on the back of about a year of experiences in which she says she had lost all confidence in pursuing anything that she was good at. She felt disillusioned after learning that the world of graphic or fashion design wasn't her thing, as she had originally thought in high school. So Laura chose to study business at TAFE, to get a job.
‘I gained great practical experience and really enjoyed what I was studying. My teacher told me to push on and study further to university, as she thought I was good enough. She turned my life around and I cannot thank her enough,’ she says.
It wasn't long after enrolling at La Trobe that Laura felt ready for the challenge of University.
‘I felt I was more ready than 80 per cent of the students in my first lecture, because I had endured hardships and wanted this more.’
‘Coming from someone who didn’t know what study was and had not studied mathematics at VCE, I persevered in order to earn the academic rewards and to realise my full potential.’
Three years later, Laura has just about finished her course, a Bachelor of International Business, majoring in management and finance.
She is currently in Japan on the coveted Mitsui Study Tour. Laura was selected out of 28 La Trobe University students who applied to join the three-week educational tour offered by La Trobe Abroad.
Her plans for the future are already solid; she would like to work as a management consultant or as an operations manager of a ‘dynamic small multinational company’ entering the Australian market.
‘I hope to live overseas, work towards a position as country manager, and then as an executive in the near future,’ Laura says.
‘I think this is all attainable if I keep at it and stay true to my goals. It’s worked for me thus far and I like to keep a positive attitude.’
But Laura says none of this would have been possible without the support that she received from all the teachers, lecturers and tutors she encountered throughout her educational journey. She also mentioned the La Trobe University Equality and Diversity Centre who provided her with coping skills to get through the stress and anxiety of her exams.
‘Not to sound cheesy, but La Trobe University has given me new life and new hope,’ she says.
