OTEN Award - Most Outstanding SEEK Learning Student

Sarah Oquist receiving the Jim Shaw Award for Most Outstanding SEEK Learning student from Tony Barrett, General Manager, SEEK Learning. 
I am really honoured to have received the Jim Shaw Award.

My name is Sarah Oquist and I have graduated with a Diploma of Human Resources in 2011.

What an honour it is to represent all the students here tonight and make the address. When I received and opened that first package from OTEN, I thought to myself - what am I doing? It was 7pm. I could hear the loud noises of my husband putting the kids to bed. I was tired (as usual),  had a part-time job to manage, a get back into shape fitness regime,  family responsibilities,  my oldest daughter wasn’t even 2 ½ and my son had just turned 1.

sooooooo

I left that package right where it was for a while and it took a bit of courage and a few weeks before I could look at it again!

The reason that I took this course was that having worked in a standalone Human Resources job for a long period of time, I wasn’t comfortable with the breadth of my knowledge in my area of expertise and wanted to round out my skills in order to have the confidence to look for another job.

For the next year or so I, I picked up the books at 8pm most nights, that was after a long day with work and the kids.  Through the fog of tiredness I really started to enjoy it, I found myself absorbed in the material and was making great progress.

The study was only interrupted by the many calls that I needed to make to the “help desk” and I was very thankful for all the great advice that I got about the texts and assignments.   I didn’t even feel embarrassed when I felt I was asking the “dumb questions” because the teachers always put me at ease.

The next big step for me was looking for a new job. It was tough because I was looking for something part-time so I could still spend time with my kids and my long suffering husband who had been alone most nights for the last year!

In October 2010, I secured a new job and was so happy to be able to put into practice what I had learned from my course.

With the new job, I had to put my studies aside for a few months, one last subject to go, I completed it early in 2011.

What I got from study that I hadn’t expected was a reinvigoration for learning. It has been a while since I had done formal study (and the last time I had a bad experience so I was quite hesitant). I had a great sense of satisfaction from increasing my knowledge and now I am looking at embarking on my Masters (but don’t tell my husband!).

A huge congratulations to all the students here who I am sure all have stories to tell of how they came to be here, the challenges of distance learning, juggling all sorts of responsibilities. I think I speak for us all to say we are all proud to be recognised for our hard work.

Last but not least, a huge thank you to the staff who supported us all on our journeys to get here. They face the challenges of not knowing who it is at the end of the phone line but supported us always and to those that put together this night, thank you.