feature
You
might assume that growing up on a small
island in the South Pacific could limit your
career options. But for Ioanna Taurannang, being raised in
the villages of Tarawa, Kiribati did nothing to downsize her
dreams of attending university and having a fulfilling career.
Originally aspiring to become a teacher in either
accounting or business, Ioanna has since broadened
her career aspirations and now plans to pursue a more
corporate path before one day fulfilling her childhood
dreams in the classroom.
While university had always been one of her goals, it
wasn’t until year 11, when her homeroom teacher spoke
to the class about AusAID scholarships, that Ioanna
considered study outside of Kiribati. After working hard
to secure herself an AusAID Australian Award scholarship,
she began researching international universities and
discovered USQ Toowoomba.
Challenges &
‘One of the reasons I chose to study with USQ is that it’s
located in Queensland with a warm climate that would
be similar to my home in the islands. Also, at the time,
her degree was only offered by USQ. Then we found
out that the university has great teaching and support
services so we decided that it would be a great university
for me.’
While excited to begin a new adventure in Australia,
Ioanna says she also had many fears including making
friends, adjusting to life away from her family, failing
courses and most of all, communicating in English.
‘When I finally arrived at USQ I had to face all of those fears,
but they were only temporary. I just focused on studying
and learning as much as I could and suddenly everything
fell into place. I started to like living here and then I started
to love studying on-campus in this new country.’
Having overcome her fears, Ioanna has turned her
challenges into triumphs and is quick to encourage other
international students to take the plunge and study abroad.
‘Making the move to
another country comes
with a different level of
difficulties depending
on your personality,
background and personal
views. But no obstacle
is permanent and if you
just keep trying, you can
overcome all the fears
and challenges that you
encounter and have a
lot of fun and interesting
experiences along the way.’
WORDS: ANDREA DAVIS – USQ Student
IMAGES: USQ PHOTOGRAPHY