Among the hundreds of graduands who gathered on the lawns of Booloominbah earlier this year for the return of our physical ceremonies was an individual dubbed “The Study Queen” who couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.
Jacqueline Hodges has not one but four UNE qualifications – a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Education, Diploma of Business Studies and a Bachelor of Psychology with Honours – and has become a beacon to other Indigenous students pursuing their dreams.
Unlike many fellow First Nations students, Jacqueline’s parents themselves achieved tertiary success to become teachers and actively encouraged each of their three children to attend university.
“It was never discussed; we just all knew we would do something at uni,” Jacqueline says. “It was very important to our parents. My mother had to beg her father just to be able to finish high school. She, like my father, earned a teacher’s scholarship to go to uni.”
For a short time early in her career, Jacqueline even taught alongside her parents at Forbes High School. But her experience has been very different to theirs.
Jacqueline (2nd from left) with her children Joe Flannery, Elizabeth Flannery, Will Flannery and Emily Flannery (absent Amy Flannery).
“I had five children in six years and when I returned to teaching I became an English/History teacher, then Support Teacher Learning Assistant, which rolled into a role with the school counselling team as a Learning and Support Teacher and Student Welfare Teacher,” she said. “While doing individualised learning plans for students I found that most of the problems they had were with anxiety and depression, which I knew nothing about.”
That’s when UNE again came into the picture.
“I thought I may as well go back to uni to study psychology and become more strategic in the way I supported students, and I soon found it very interesting,” Jacqueline says. “I realised that school counselling was where I wanted to end up, so I finished my degree and got into honours and last year completed my seventh year of part-time study at UNE.”
It’s all the more impressive given Jacqueline has remained a dedicated Mum and worked full-time – sometimes two jobs – for most of that period.
“I like learning – I’m very good at trivia nights – and I like to be busy,”
“I like learning – I’m very good at trivia nights – and I like to be busy,” she says. “I’m pretty organised and I have just had to be very consistent. Even if I were on holidays or on a course for work, I made sure I looked at Moodle every day. I just plodded along.”
Support from the Oorala Aboriginal Centre and its tutoring program was “excellent”, says Jacqueline, who recently signed up to become an Oorala tutor herself. “And the UNE course coordinators and lecturers in psychology were very accessible. I felt they knew who we were as people, as well as students.”
Jacqueline is now completing the School Counsellor Retraining Program and doing a Master of Professional Psychology through Charles Sturt University. “As a school counsellor I hope I can provide some early interventions and maybe change the course of students’ lives,” she says.
And the commitment to constant learning has broader benefits. “Workwise, it has meant that I have remained current and that makes for a greater impact on students,” Jacqueline says. I’ve been able to show that education gives you choices and opportunities and you just don’t know where you’re going to end up. Your career can grow and develop as you grow as a person.
“I hope I am a good role model for other Indigenous students, showing that it doesn’t really matter where life takes you, you can pick up education and start again and head in a different direction at any age. It’s taking a risk and a leap of faith, but you don’t have to stick with your first choice.
“Psychology has been a big commitment and I will be 55 this year. There’s a chance that I won’t get a lot of time to practice, but I thought it was worth the effort to do it.”
And although she has won many prizes during her university studies, including the VC Scholar Award in 2016, the Oorala Merit Prize in 2018 and again in 2019, and Muriel Snow Indigenous Honours Prize in 2020, Jacqueline says her April graduation trumps them all. Flanked by her husband Brian Flannery and four of her children, who nicknamed Jacqueline “The Study Queen”, she says she felt intensely proud.
“Learning at my age definitely requires more effort, unlike my first time around, being a party girl at Albies,” she says. “That doesn’t fly in your late 40s and 50s with a job and a family. This year’s graduation gave me more of a buzz than any other because I never thought I would study again.”
2022 graduations – a personal and economic boost
After a two-year hiatus due to bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, UNE welcomed a record number of graduands to three days of pomp and ceremony in late April and early May that is thought to have injected about $670,000 into the Armidale economy.
About 1,000 UNE graduates received their testamur – a formal acknowledgement of attainment – over three graduation sessions beneath sunny skies.
A further 2,400 recent alumni who graduated in-absentia during COVID have indicated they wish to attend a future ceremony. Unforeseen circumstances notwithstanding, we plan on holding more graduations in August and December.
In addition to graduates and their families, UNE’s Autumn Graduation drew a number of prominent individuals who were awarded Honorary Doctorates. These included UNE’s Professor Linda Agnew, science communicator Dr David Ellyard and songwriter Don Walker, best known for his work with Australian band Cold Chisel. Armidale-based social entrepreneur Bernie Shakeshaft, founder of Backtrack Youth Works, also spoke about his life-changing work with youth who have fallen through society’s cracks, and local Anaiwan Elder Colin Ahoy was recognised for his work as a cultural advisor to UNE and mentor to students through the Oorala Centre.
