Community
14 December, 2024
Graduating with pride
A COHORT of 170 James Cook University students have commemorated the exciting beginning of their careers with a graduation ceremony at the Cairns Convention Centre this week.
Students from the college of medicine and dentistry, college of public health, medical and veterinary sciences and college of healthcare sciences crossed the stage of the Cairns Convention Centre on Monday to receive their diplomas and farewell their student life to take on their dreamed career paths.
JCU vice chancellor Professor Simon Biggs sent his best wishes to the graduates and highlighted their commitment to working locally.
“This is always the most exciting part of university life,” he said.
“This is the culmination of everyone’s hard work, the support of their families and the hard work of my colleagues in educating these graduates and then these graduates go out and make a real difference to our communities here in the north.
“When students are trained here, they stay here and that’s very important. We do surveys and we have alumni programs, so we know this is the case.
“We wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavours.”
Dentistry graduate and Mutchilba local David Bailey said he was excited to use his skills to address the shortage skills in North Queensland.
“It’s really good to have all that hard work over five years pay off to get here,” he said.
“I’ll stay in North Queensland. I’ve got a job in Mackay at Clarity Dental, so I’ll be sticking around in the north.
“JCU was an easy decision, they offer a lot of clinical hours, so you feel like you’re prepared for the work life when you get out there.
“I’ve made heaps of connections, and these are all colleagues and friends and it’ll be good to take that into our working life because it’s good to have all those memories.”
Dental surgery graduate Carly Featherstone from Mackay encouraged others to choose JCU and stay regional to help the community and improve their skills.
“The JCU course is fantastic. You got the greatest clinical hours, fantastic lecturers, as well as the placements. Going rural and remote just makes a big difference to your learning,” she said.
“What you do remotely compared to what you would do in the major cities is such a big difference. You’re the one seeing firsthand what’s going on, you can’t just refer it to the dentist down the road, you have to do it, and patients end up having a lot of respect for you.”
