All in the family

Great Scott! A college romance. A 34-year marriage. And an entire family educated at UNE.

All four members of the Scott family have learnt with us, starting with Mum Claudia and Dad Brad, who met during their first year of studies. More than 30 years later son Christian graduated with a Bachelor of Business and now daughter Jessica has a Bachelor of Education underway.

“Brad and I loved our time at UNE; it’s where our love story started,” said Claudia, who completed a Bachelor of Arts and Brad a Bachelor of Natural Resources. “After I graduated, I remained in Armidale while Brad finished his PhD in Resource Economics. After he graduated, we thought that Armidale would be a good place to bring up kids, so we stayed. We didn’t push Chris and Jessica into studying at UNE. It’s just been a natural progression.”

Armed with his degree, Chris took a job in an accountancy firm, before deciding to join the military. “I had wanted to join the Army since I was 18 or 19 but had put it on the backburner,” Chris said. “Then, at 25, I took the opportunity to scratch that itch, to push myself to do something really physical.”

He’s now an infantry soldier with the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, based in Darwin and “having a ball”.

“I had never been to the NT before and Darwin was a place I had wanted to explore; it was a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone,” Chris said. “I love the outdoors and physical challenges; I thought there were good leadership skills I could develop in the Army, including the capacity to work under pressure. It’s the best decision I’ve made.”

There’s the military knowledge he’s gaining – in reconnaissance, tracking and combat communications – plus physical training at least twice a day, international exercises and civilian tasks like providing disaster relief during the northern Australian cyclone season. “We keep busy.”

And although the content of his UNE degree is a world away from his current defence role, Chris said it all adds up.

“Tertiary studies show that you can commit yourself to learning,” he said. “I still do that, trying to wrap my head around new concepts and ideas – and they are foundation skills I acquired at UNE. A degree shows you can commit to something for a long period of time. It has helped me out a lot.

“A huge part of accounting is interacting with others. My time in the military has given me greater confidence in myself and what I can achieve, and I think that will be very useful when I return to accountancy.”

Not to be out-done, Chris’s sister Jessica (Zirkler) is now studying at UNE to become a teacher, while working part-time and raising three children. Her ambition is to become a primary school teacher.

And to think it all started with a promise of guitar lessons.

“Brad and I met at Austin College,”

“Brad and I met at Austin College,” Claudia said. “I wanted to learn to play the guitar and someone recommended Brad, who offered to teach me, but I didn’t really have any lessons.”

Claudia did, however, complete a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma of Education and now works at UNE’s Agricultural Business Research Institute. Brad is also employed at UNE, in IT, and completed a third qualification with us, a Diploma in Computing Science.

Six Scott UNE qualifications and counting!