Third-year nursing student Emily Gamez found plenty of reasons to justify remaining in Tasmania to study her degree, rather than moving to another university interstate.
As Emily was born and raised in Hobart, there was the obvious allure of not needing to move away from home if she studied at the University of Tasmania. She found there were multiple other benefits to studying where she lived, like being able to go to uni with friends from school.
“There's a lot of forest and bushwalk land around Tasmania, especially near the Cornelian Bay area, very beautiful,” she said.
“I do morning runs sometimes. It's always good to step out of your uni life and just into the environment and just take a breath and just connect with nature in itself.
“I do live with family still, until probably I finish my studies. It's very easy to get around most times. Public transport, driving car, even biking places, which is really nice.”
Emily has always found the science of the human body fascinating, and has always felt drawn to caring for people, so nursing always seemed like the perfect future career.
She considered studying medicine – and hasn’t ruled it out as a future possibility – but found the portability and versatility of nursing to be extremely appealing.
“It's a degree that can take you anywhere, especially travel-wise,” she said. “It's an amazing degree to help people."
“Yes, it can be demanding at times, but it is very rewarding and you never stop learning.”
Another perk of studying nursing in Tasmania was the variety and breadth of experience to be found in the practical work placements that are part of the degree.
“Having a variety of placements in Tasmania, you can even go rural or just outside Tasmania, like King Island, which is amazing,” Emily said. “It's all up to your preference."
“I'm currently at an emergency department right now doing my placement, which is very enjoyable.”
Emily said studying in Tasmania had given her the opportunity to be part of a close-knit community and enjoy a more personal university experience than she might have found at a larger interstate university.
This has made it easier for her to maintain her social circles and connect with people both on and off campus. Smaller class sizes also mean she has been able to form close friendships with her fellow students and have easier access to her lecturers.
“There is a new nursing society that just started this year, and I do get quite involved in the University of Tasmania societies. I do soccer and volleyball sometimes. It definitely balances things out when you are studying a very heavy course. It's good to take your mind, just to step away from all that study and just take a breather, doing something else you enjoy.”
Emily’s love of social connection and community involvement saw her awarded the Global Leaders Scholarship, in recognition of her extensive volunteer work.
Not only does the scholarship encourage her to keep in touch with her community at a grass-roots level, it also helps with the expenses of study.
“It allows me to travel to uni and even travel outside of uni, get to places, buy books and laptops and all the other outside materials for nursing."
“I do a lot of volunteering in my own time outside of studies, for multiple organisations. Giving back to your local community is always good in a sense, not only for you learning and developing new skills and how everything works, but it's also for the people out there who might need it most during that day, and you can make that your day and their day as well.”