The difference you can make – in the most challenging times

Recipient of the Australian Library and Information Association Scholarship

Claire Sadler

Master of Education (Teaching Librarianship)

2020 definitely impacted me in many ways, as it did everyone in our community. I work and live in Melbourne, so some of those challenges were exacerbated. I was working part time as a casual primary teacher before the pandemic struck and have not worked since April. I also felt isolated, as I live away from my family and was experiencing lockdown by myself. Studying in such a climate is definitely new to me! However, I persevered and did the best I could with what I had.

My scholarship was an incredible gift for this year. I was able to use the funds to purchase a new laptop, which greatly increased the accessibility of my study, and I believe resulted in higher quality of work as I was able to utilise new software and graphics. Secondly, as I was not able to work for most of this year, my scholarship was a huge help financially to support myself day to day.

Thank you so much for your assistance and scholarship – it has truly been a highlight of my year. Recipient of the CO2 Australia Regional Professionals Scholarship

Rachel Habermann

Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management

I was stood down at all three of my casual jobs in March and was unemployed until June when the pub that I work at re-opened. My scholarship allowed me to continue my studies through the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without this money I may not have had access to the resources necessary to continue my degree.

If there was ever a year to be most thankful for such a generous scholarship – it is 2020. A lot of financial ups and downs have made me appreciate my access to education so much more and to have been afforded this scholarship in such a treacherous year is truly a blessing.

This scholarship genuinely saved me and I could not be more grateful for this opportunity to continue learning and developing the skills I need to make a genuine change in this world.

Recipient of the White Family Prize

Isabella Jacobson

Bachelor of Education, K-12

2020 provided an abundance of obstacles and challenges that I had to overcome in order to finish my degree.

One of the biggest struggles this year was in regard to finances. I work at Rydges at Mount Panorama and teach casually at schools around the diocese, and both of these jobs were reduced to the point that I was unemployed for four months at the start of this year.

Additionally, both of my pracs had to be away from home, with four weeks spent in Mudgee and six weeks spent in Tamworth. I was expecting to have a long time in between pracs so that I could save money. This didn’t occur because of school closures and the need to get my pracs done so that I could graduate on time. The scholarship money relieved some of this stress, as I was able to put it aside for food and my accommodation.

Thank you so very much for this scholarship. I am absolutely blown away with your generosity and I hope, one day, I will be in the position where I can pay it forward and potentially be a donor myself. Recipient of the Charles Sturt Foundation Persistence Scholarship

Patricia Bordignon

Master of Speech Pathology

This year has been very challenging, with COVID-19 changing the way we live. I lost my job in March and was unemployed for a few months. This added stress about how I would be able to afford rent and bills being a single mother. There was home-schooling, which meant there was limited time to apply to my studies as I was teaching my three children. These complications added to an already stressful mature-age student who was trying to balance work, kids and studying.

The scholarship helped with attending residential schools and a workplace learning opportunity in Albury. This has been a mammoth year of changes and stress. The scholarship has allowed me to pay for the things that I had planned for, such as textbooks, but also for the things that were unplanned which came along with COVID-19.

I don’t think I would have been able to continue with university this year without the scholarship and I am truly grateful to the donor for their generosity.