I am a second year Master of Public Health student. I completed my Bachelor of Education (primary) in 2017, however towards the completion of my degree realised I did not have the passion for teaching that so many of my friends did. I decided that the immediate next course of action was to look for another field and career. As I now recognise that I had limited knowledge of what professions were available to me when I was a year 12 student, I decided to look through all the Masters degrees that were available at all the Universities in WA.
I produced a list of degrees that really interested me and I felt were achievable and whittled it down from 7 to just 2, one of which was a Master of Public Health. I decided to take the plunge and feel like I have made the best decision. I am so much more interested and dedicated to this then I ever felt with my teaching degree. Public health and health promotion is such a fascinating field with so much to learn! Developing an understanding of the determinants of health, healthy policy, stakeholders, ethics and health interventions has been very rewarding not only in my studies but in my everyday life. I have become very aware of the world around me, I feel like I am a more knowledgeable citizen of my local community and of Australia and understand how I can have an impact on Australia's future. I am very happy with the course and units that Curtin University offers for the Master of Public Health. I have found all of the core units beneficial, some of which include 'Foundations of Public Health', 'Public Health Nutrition Principles' and 'Health Policy and Decision Making'. However Curtin offers the opportunity to tailor the course to my interests and future career.
As part of my degree I am currently undertaking a research project which involves qualitative analysis of submissions to a current parliamentary inquiry in WA. I am gaining valuable skills and knowledge from the project and expert guidance from my research supervisors who are very knowledgeable and supportive. I have also been trying to gain experience by volunteering in the public health sector in order to see what type of work is out there and understand the different public health topics that are currently being targeted in WA.
Once I have completed the Master of Public Health I would like to stay in Western Australia so I can make as much of an impact on my home state as possible with my degree. My goals for my career are to become a health promotion practitioner and work directly with policy and policy advocacy for those who are underrepresented in policy decision making.