Making dreams come true

When UQ Ipswich graduand Mandy Mutzelburg left school at 13, she dreamed of doing extra study one day though deafness had prevented her from doing well academically.

“I also came from a very working class background and I simply had to get a job,” she said.

Years later, after watching two of her children graduate, she decided it was time to put her own dream into action.

“I was so proud of my children — they were the first people in our family to graduate from university. At 50 years of age, I thought it was time that I did the same,” she said.

So she did, and surprised even herself with her success — an enviable student record of 7s (the maximum grade available) and 6s.

Mrs Mutzelburg will graduate Bachelor of Behavioural Studies at a 6pm ceremony in Ipswich Civic Hall on Monday, December 16. She will also give the Valedictory Address.

Mrs Mutzelburg, who uses hearing aids, is one of the first students to graduate with a Behavioural Studies degree from the Ipswich campus. She is also the recipient of the first UQ Friends of Ipswich scholarship.

She will further her studies by commencing an honours degree next year.

Her next dream, she says, is to establish a community centre in her local area of Brassall, Ipswich with her husband, a minister of religion who supported her with her studies.

Media: For more information, contact Mrs Mutzelburg (telephone 07 3812 2192, email s370377@student.uq.edu.au) or Loretta Porche, Marketing and Development Officer, UQ Ipswich (telephone 07 3381 1068 or 0418 772 819).