No Money, No Problem In Search For Ideal Job
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday December 18, 2008
NOT many university graduates would turn down a lucrative job offer, but Teneale Lavender decided to follow her heart.
Graduating from the University of Wollongong yesterday with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Aboriginal Studies, Ms Lavender could not be lured by a generous pay packet, choosing instead to continue pursuing her dream career."I'm hoping to get into government policy and I'm doing my Diploma of Education next year for teaching," she said."I did get offered a graduate job for negotiating land rights, but there's a government freeze on at the moment and it was with a mining company so it would be like selling your soul to the devil."I'm just happy to concentrate on my teaching at the moment."The 21-year-old from Windang developed an interest in indigenous culture while attending Lake Illawarra High School and said taking Aboriginal studies at university helped her to approach other cultures from a different angle. "I was always really interested in Aboriginal culture and social justice is obviously something that is really big for me and I wanted to learn more about it," she said."I was always pretty open-minded so I always had those basic principles, but when you're doing a degree it makes you think from a different perspective."If anything it made me realise that I have these sorts of views but I understand why people think the way they do, and I guess it gives you methods of trying to explain your views to people so that they can see the other side of the story."Ms Lavender aims to eventually teach in the Northern Territory.
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury