It has faced flooding and a global pandemic, but the Parkes Country Universities Centre (CUC) was able to recently celebrate a spectacularly successful first year, complete with one of the better cakes you'll ever see.
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CUC manager Jacob Cass, Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM, chair of the CUC Board Tracie Robertson, local councillors and students were all an hand to celebrate the CUC's first birthday, and all the achievements that have come along with it.
Cr Keith acknowledged the challenges Jacob has faced since inception last year, but applauded the way the entire community has embraced the centre.
"It's a great pleasure to see the CUC turn one," he said last Friday.
"It has been a long-held dream of mine to have a university presence here in Parkes.
"Jacob has been just the perfect person to manage the CUC in its first year.
"We did have some challenges; like floods coming through, COVID, all sorts of things to make it hard in our first year, but the fact we have had over 46 students and at least 62 for the second year just shows the demand is in our community for it," said Cr Keith.
Tracie echoed the mayor's sentiments, and expressed her delight on behalf of the board for all the CUC has been able to achieve.
"It's pretty special to get to the end of year one, and eight students have either graduated, or are in the process of it, so that's really exciting for us," she said.
"We'll be staring down the barrel of triple digit numbers studying next year!
"Thank you to the students for trusting us to support you through your studies," she concluded.
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"My learning journey has been a little bit more chaotic than the typical path that many people in my year group might have taken," she said.
"As a little old country girl from Parkes, it seemed very daunting to move five hours away from home, but I was always going to come back to Parkes once I graduated with a marketing degree.
"I found that living five hours away as a 17-year-old with no friends or family for support was difficult, and I decided to move back home.
"I was assured I would be a university drop-out and that would be the end of me.
"I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but Tracie (Robertson) reached out to me not long after I moved home, and explained to me the role marketing could play in a real estate context every single day.
"So through an alternative path, I was able to do two years of work experience, a few short courses and then become eligible for a Graduate Certificate in Applied Digital Marketing.
"Not long after enrolment, the CUC was established and it was a little match made in heaven.
"I had a place to come study - a brighter place than my kitchen table - and no people around me which was great.
"Studying online is an amazing opportunity for those in remote areas, but it can be hard when you're a parent, or living at home...you need a place to go free of distractions.
"I'm so excited that I've graduated - I'm not a university dropout - and I have the CUC to thank for that," said Madeline.
Congratulations to Madeline, and all the students who have graduated through the CUC in its first year - here's to many, many more years of Parkes graduates!
To find out more about the Parkes CUC, head to https://www.cucparkes.edu.au/.
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