Held at the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre, more than 300 people attended the graduation, which was emceed by Tim Campbell and featured a keynote address from 2022 Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, as well as a set by Nurse-turned-comedian Georgie Carroll.
But it was the students who stole the show, with mother and daughter Emma and Shelley Soutter sharing their stories on stage of what it was like to study a Diploma of Nursing together.
Shelley was a stay-at-home mum and operating her own beauty business for 15 years. When COVID struck, she knew it was time for a career change.
“I was in the beauty industry but it shut down with COVID so I thought, ‘I want a career where that won't happen to me again,” Shelley said.
“At the time my dad was also terminally ill with cancer. So, I thought well, nursing is a good avenue to go down.”
Emma was studying teaching at university but didn’t feel it was the right fit for her. She decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and enrol in the Diploma of Nursing at GOTAFE.
Shelley and Emma then supported each other through their studies, a further mother daughter bonding experience.
“She just did it because I was and then she ended up loving it too,” Shelley said.
“I couldn't have got through it without her.
“Our approach to studying and completing work was very different. The way we read things was different too, like there could be one question and I would read it one way and she'd read it another.”
Shelley is now working as an Enrolled Nurse (EN) at an aged care facility and Emma is working as an EN at Albury Wodonga Health.
Nursing students made up the largest cohort of graduates at the graduation, showing the popularity of the locally delivered Diploma of Nursing course, which sees students able to enter the workforce as ENs with many then going on to study a further two years at university to become a Registered Nurse (RN).
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