English: Community Access Program (CAP) student profiles
Margaret McNeill
"To those who think about returning to study as I did in their fifties, it is achievable and CAP studies makes this possible. You learn not only the subjects you have chosen, but to engage with people of all ages and abilities, and to expand horizons in completely new areas. As a person with a mobility disability, I also needed and was given practical help in the many areas I needed to access on campus.
I expect 2006 will be an exciting year for me. Now that I have been offered a place for a Bachelor of Arts, I am going back to university with a feeling of familiarity, of knowing that I can do this, and there is so much for me to learn. I continue to find references everywhere to what I have already learned in CAP studies - in movies, newspapers, art exhibitions, literature, book reviews - the list goes on. My life has opened up in an entirely new way and I know now that I can aspire to finding work in different areas which I will enjoy, and even work that I can undertake where age will not be a barrier."
Jem Jemmeson
"The CAP program was a great thing for me: having finished my HSC more than twenty years ago. I have enjoyed and benefited from mixing with a lot of very clever and interesting people - and lived a life not just different from my usual existence, but different in exhilarating and worthwhile ways. In tackling the research and assessment tasks, which often added more work than I wanted to my days or weeks, I have learned a great deal about things that interest me, and about myself. I took one subject at a time - many of the lectures, and lots of the tutes, were not only interesting but fun."
Betty De Hugard
Consultant Psychologist
"All my study and work has been in the social sciences, which I love, but in my school-days, English was my passion. So when I had the urge to start studying again, I chose an English subject, partly because the set texts were old favourites and the thought of re-visiting them seemed wonderful. Well, what a surprise! First, the confident, articulate people who were my fellow students seemed to be experiencing these texts for the first time and, secondly, far from reveling in the beauty of Shakespeare's sonnets, for instance, the whole course concerned 'criticism' not 'appreciation'.
Such a difference, but what a joy it became. The lectures and tutorials were so engrossing that I looked forward to them as highlights in every week. I recommend any CAP student to venture in to English subjects, you might not agree with everything that is said, but you will learn, and enjoy learning."