Life got in the way of Crystal Primmer achieving her childhood dream. But the mother-of-five has now achieved it, two decades later, thanks to UNE.
“As a little girl, I would sit my sister Katie down in our small lounge room and insist she play ‘schools’ with me for hours,” Crystal says. “I was always the teacher and while she often lost interest, I never did. I loved it; instinctively, it felt like where I belonged.”
Now Crystal has graduated from UNE with a Bachelor of Education (Secondary Arts) and is relishing her first full-time appointment, teaching in a Sydney high school. But it has been far from smooth sailing.
“After I left school, I went straight into the workforce, married the love of my life and I had our first beautiful daughter at 24. Uni seemed unattainable and my dreams of becoming a teacher drifted into the background.”
Crystal had a role in administration, “just working to pay the bills”, when Katie tragically died by suicide. Then, just three years later, shortly after the birth of her third child, Crystal was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer.
“From that moment, everything changed. What followed was surgery and six months of physically and emotionally exhausting chemotherapy while I continued to raise our young children. Yet, through that experience, something became undeniably clear: life is fragile and too short not to chase your dreams.”
So, at the age of 32, Crystal embraced the flexibility UNE offered to pursue her long-held teaching ambitions.
“My family had always come first, so this was not easy. I studied while breastfeeding. I wrote essays late at night when the kids were in bed. I listened to lectures in the car during school pick-ups. I just fitted my studies in wherever I could because I knew it was what I wanted and needed to do.
There were tears, exhaustion, moments of doubt, multiple setbacks and many times when I felt like giving up. Balancing study, motherhood and life’s demands often felt overwhelming. But I kept going and UNE made it possible. I wasn’t locked in to attending classes at a certain time and studied on my terms.
Twelve years later, Crystal is living out her dream and cancer free. She is also a passionate advocate for Bowel Cancer Australia and Lifeline and raises funds for both charities.
After pausing her studies to have her two youngest children and accommodate the demands of home-schooling during COVID lockdowns, Crystal hopes her tenacity demonstrates to her own children that it’s never too late to achieve life goals.
“They saw their mum do something and never give up. They were part of this. And I would not be here without the support of my husband, my family and friends.”
And as for whether the dream has lived up to expectations …
“From the moment I stood at the front of a classroom everything just clicked; I knew it was exactly where I was meant to be. I just love it. It feels like I’m whole. Every part of my journey – from the little girl who loved to teach, the grief of losing my sister, the strength it took to survive cancer and the years of study and motherhood – had led me to this point.
“I feel an overwhelming sense of pride, not just in becoming a teacher, but in everything it took to get here. And I believe I would not be the same teacher had I done this at 20. I just took a while to get there.”
