Clare proves early detractors wrong thanks to Gladstone STEPS
Published on 19 December, 2008
Clare Bond seems like any ordinary mum but underneath there is a strength of character that would be hard to match.
This incredibly dynamic woman has achieved much in life despite the fact she was forced to leave school at an early age due to low expectations about the educational potential of Indigenous people. In those days, teachers used to query what she was doing there.
Clare forges ahead with her studies
Throughout her life Clare has been faced with this type of prejudice and, although she is an Indigenous Australian culturally and spiritually, because she has blue eyes and fair skin she has faced discrimination from both sides of the fence.
Despite this, she has just been awarded the lucrative $15,000 per year Indigenous Health-related Puggy Hunter scholarship to study Psychology at CQUniversity.
Clare is the second person in her family to be awarded the scholarship as her daughter received the same award in 2005 to study medicine.
Her journey from normal mum, soccer referee, swimming coach, teacher aide and "Jill of all trades" to star Psychology student started with the STEPs program at CQUniversity Gladstone.
It was a tough year for Clare with health and family problems but the staff of the CQUniversity STEPs program helped her to achieve more than she could ever expect to achieve and she graduated with top marks in all subjects.
Clare is congratulated by Vice-Chancellor Professor John Rickard
Clare went on to commence a Bachelor of Psychology degree and she is just finishing her first year.
"The staff were wonderfully supportive and still are," she said. "They still help out now that I am an undergraduate student - the help doesn't stop when STEPs stops - it just keeps going. I would certainly recommend the STEPs program for anyone from any walk of life if they want to make their life better.
"Not only has it helped me be a better student it helped me to help my kids with their school work and learning processes. STEPs gave me the opportunity to be what I wanted to be - not just what society expected me to be".