More than 1000 students graduate in first ceremonies in over a year
With the first USQ graduation ceremony in over a year, more than 1000 students have successfully been capped, gowned and handed their degrees following a particularly difficult period of study.
Toowoomba
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Hundreds of university students have waited more than 12 months to celebrate their graduation, and this week they’ve finally been granted that pleasure.
With more than 1000 University of Southern Queensland students graduating across 12 different ceremonies over a mammoth four days, students have finally been able to don their caps, gowns and take the stage to collect their degrees.
These were the first graduation ceremonies the university has been able to host since the end of 2019, with pandemic restrictions making mass gatherings almost impossible for the last 12 months.
Bachelor of Social Science graduate Nathan Harvey said despite the difficult last year, he had enjoyed his time at USQ and was even considering continuing his studies at Toowoomba’s university.
“Studying my first degree through COVID was definitely tough at times, particularly when I wasn’t able to meet up with class mates to study and get their support and advice,” he said.
“You definitely notice the drop off in terms of contactability access to the library and other resources that was the thing that I probably noticed the most.
“Losing that group setting was pretty rough for me personally because it made me lose a bit of focus but at the end of the day it’s your degree so you just have to adapt and get through it.”
The 21-year-old said he didn’t feel like his university experience was lessened because of the pandemic, as much as it was altered.
“I still had a really positive time throughout my degree, I really enjoyed being able to have so much access to my faculty and staff members and I would definitely consider further study here,” he said.
His advice to current and future uni students was simple.
“If you know what you want to study, just take the leap and get into it. There’s no better time.”
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