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Amber Gollagher is a third year Bachelor of Education student who identifies as Aboriginal, from her mother’s side of the family.
Amber’s mum left the family home when Amber and her twin sister were only 6 months old. At this time her mother also signed the girls over to foster care where they remained until after their first birthday. Following the time spent in foster care both girls were raised by their father on an island in Queensland with minimal family support. Amber acknowledges that money was ‘tight’ and emotions were often high with alcohol being a common feature in the home. Growing up without a biological mother was also hard, it wasn’t as though she had passed away and her loss could be processed, she literally just up and left one day. Amber says, “as a child you wonder why your mother didn’t love you enough to stay? I often wondered if she was alive? Or if she even cared or thought of me at all?”.
Amber says, “I fell into several bad relationships in my late teens and early twenties and was in a dead-end job where I felt undervalued. I just wasn’t happy with who I was or where I was in my life. I knew I had more to give to myself and the people around me. I knew that I wanted to be the best version of myself that I could be, I wanted to show my daughter a better way, so I separated from my daughter’s father and enrolled in Griffith University as a mature-age student”.
When I received a Griffith Futures Scholarship this year, so much financial stress was eased! The scholarship has been amazing by helping me with my day-to-day living, as I lost over half my income coming to study. Also, I was able to buy a personal laptop instead of using the ones in the library or GUMMURRII.”
After completing her teaching degree, Amber plans to undertake a post-graduate counselling course, with a view to becoming a school counsellor and helping other young people find resilience and strength to follow their passions.
“I want to help high school kids who are in situations like I was, by providing them with resilience skills, so they can cope better with the challenges they face in their life.”
Amber describes herself as strong and resilient and believes that "no matter what happens to you in your life, you can overcome it and you can have everything you want, if you are willing to pick yourself up and work for it”. She goes on to say that she believes that “your past does not define who you are, and every day we are gifted with the choice to be better, stronger and smarter”.
Amber is immensely grateful to the donors who made her scholarship possible.
“Thank you for helping me to continue my degree, easing so much stress and for supporting my goal of empowering vulnerable children in high school.”