News - Flying To Australia
Cornwall College press release
Cornwall College Newquay student, Marie Corrall, flew an amazing 10,000 miles to fulfil her dream of working with koalas in Australia.
Marie, who is studying the Zoological Conservation Foundation Degree, flew to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, to carry out her work experience placement where she got to hold a koala for the first time.
"It was an amazing experience. I have loved koalas from a very young age and to finally hold one was a lifelong ambition." Marie, 21 from Birmingham, said "Koalas are lovely to look at and each one has a different temperament."
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is the world's first and largest koala sanctuary with over 130 koalas, but it also houses lots of other animals including kookaburras, dingoes, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies and farmyard animals. The wide range of other animals was the main reason why Marie wanted to spend her work placement there. "As well as working with koalas I wanted to experience working with other native wildlife different to our own and the sanctuary included all of these. I got the placement via Real Gap, who organise many gap year projects abroad. I had always planned on travelling to Australia and thought this would be an excellent opportunity to see a part of it."
During her four week placement Marie carried out a number of essential roles with all the animals including: cleaning out enclosures, preparing the animals feed, feeding the animals and holding animal handling and bottle feeding sessions with children from local schools.
"One of the main roles was to re-mulch the koala enclosures. This involved taking away all the old mulch, which is chopped up eucalyptus leaves, and replacing it with fresh mulch. It wasn't a pleasant job, and it was also very time consuming, but I loved it."
Jo Vosper, Work Experience Co-ordinator at Cornwall College Newquay said: "Work experience forms an essential part of all Cornwall College's Foundation Degree and requires students to gain knowledge of their chosen subject in the relevant industry. Students gain placements all over the world on our courses and it's great to hear how much they have enjoyed their time when they return!"
Marie continues: "A month really wasn't long enough at the sanctuary, so on completion of my foundation degree I would like to stay at Cornwall College Newquay and complete the BSc Applied Zoology and then return to Australia and take part in further conservation projects."
Dave Linnell, CEO and Principal of Cornwall College said: "It's fantastic to see the dedication our students show when it comes to gaining work experience. This placement will definitely help Marie gain employment at the end of her course, as she has already shown that she's prepared to go the extra mile, in order to progress her career."