IT is all too easy when your head has been stuck in a book for the best part of a year to lose perspective.
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Recently-graduated year 12 students from across the region and the country have turned the final page on their school chapter.
After a year undertaking their Higher School Certificate – and a gruelling three weeks of formal exams – local teens last night finally learned whether their marks would secure them a spot in their chosen university courses.
The University Admissions Centre (UAC) released their offers at 6pm Wednesday.
For some, it marked the end of a drawn-out and anxious wait since exams finished on November 4.
Others might not have felt quite so relieved if they didn’t receive the offers they were hoping for.
But we must stress to our children that this isn’t the end.
In fact, it is only just the beginning.
A local psychologist has reminded students that there is life after UAC.
A student might not be set on the path they thought they would be, but there are other ways to get there.
There are alternatives to get into preferred fields of study, such as bridging courses and colleges that can provide credit points towards your course.
Life after school can be full of mixed emotions for teenagers.
Teenagers may be impressionable moving away and living independently for the very first time.
Some will make an easy transition into university life and others might struggle juggling study demands in an independent environments.
Some will take longer ways to get there and others will opt for a holiday, a gap-year or pursue a trade.
Whatever their decision, we must support our children to make choices that will set them on the right path.
We must remind them of the bigger picture. A career or future direction doesn’t rest on a single mark you received as a teenager or what course you studied at university.
Sure it might fast-track someone to get where they want, but the journey itself must be enjoyed and made the most of.
There are so many success stories out there about people who thought they might never make it in their field, took a really long time to get there or were told they never could.