Dressed in graduation regalia, Beverley, Loralei and Amanda joined about 400 Edith Cowan University (ECU) graduates at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre last Sunday.
Before the ceremony, the trio gathered with family and friends at Mission Australia’s Wattle House, which provides support services for people facing significant life challenges. From there, they were all transported by bus to the graduation venue, with several past and present Catalyst students coming along to cheer the women on.
Catalyst Clemente is a free educational program for people who have experienced significant barriers to education. Now run from five Mission Australia sites in partnership with educational institutions, it was established in Western Australia in 2008 in association with Edith Cowan University and sponsored by Woodside Energy. Weekly lectures, which are held at Wattle House, are supplemented by one learning evening each week.
The three Catalyst graduates all agreed that the program had been a journey in self-empowerment.
“I feel like I used to float through life,” said Beverley. “I didn’t have direction, whereas now I know what I want and I now have the avenue to get there.”
Two of the graduates plan to pursue further study at ECU, while the other is studying Community Services at TAFE.
Mission Australia’s WA Catalyst Coordinator Mario Gomes was invited to be the occasional speaker at the graduation event. He thanked ECU for its commitment to the program and urged the graduates to give back to the community no matter what career, profession or business they planned to pursue.
In his well-received address, Mario fondly spoke of the “students, who are the real stars of the program. Their commitment and persistence in the face of all adversity is truly inspirational”.
One student, he told guests, was a young mother of three when she enrolled. She gave birth to her fourth child during her studies and then attended lectures with her baby in the pram.
“Another student,” Mario added, “is a grandmother who had battled through self-doubt and health issues while the third is a sole parent of three children who also overcame personal obstacles to reach this amazing milestone.”
“It was an excellent opportunity to speak about the program and the inspirational stories of the students,” Mario said this week. “As I reminded graduates on the day, ‘Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars’.”
Above image courtesy of Phillips & Father
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