Turn adversity into opportunity

At just 15, Stephanie's world changed overnight. When she should have been spending time with friends, studying, and playing sport, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

For six long months, painful treatments, lonely nights, and loud machines became her new reality. Yet, through it all, there was a constant source of comfort: the nurses by her side who became more than just caregivers. “On New Year's Eve, I had a nurse wheel me up to the roof-top to watch the fireworks. They made a real effort to make hospital feel like home for me," she says.

Now, Stephanie is turning her own pain and fear into hope for others. She is studying to become a nurse, driven by a desire to pay it forward and offer the same comfort, care, and compassion that helped her. "I hope by me pursuing nursing, I’m able to help patients not feel so alone.”

But this path hasn't been without its own set of struggles. After overcoming these health challenges, Stephanie faced a new obstacle: the financial burden of going to university.

Many students, like Stephanie, are struggling with financial barriers that threaten to derail their futures. Without support, these bright and determined students are at risk of dropping out of their studies - unable to return to their communities as professionals who are ready to make a meaningful difference.

Now in her second year at La Trobe, Stephanie is living the life she once feared she’d miss out on – studying hard, spending time with friends, and playing sports. Driven by the care and compassion that helped her through her illness, she’s focused on her dream of becoming a nurse and paying that kindness forward.

The La Trobe Scholarship Fund provides scholarships to students experiencing hardship who urgently need financial support to start or continue their studies. All donations are tax deductible and 100% of all gifts go directly to students.

Stephanie knows that without the support of scholarships, many more students who are on the cusp of reaching university and have a passion to pay it forward like her, will miss out because of problems outside of their control.

"When you're a broke 18-year-old trying to figure out how on earth you're going to get to uni and then you get granted a scholarship, it makes all the difference," she says. "To those considering giving, first and foremost, thank you. I think that without scholarships, uni wouldn't be attainable for so many people."