Deakin graduate leads student company to national victory

Deakin University graduate Lucille Chisholm definitely is going places. She recently led her student-run company Victorya, to national success taking out the Young Achievement Australia Student Business Awards' National Award for Community Value.

Fittingly, she has the qualification to do so - the 21 year old has a dual qualification in management and tourism.

The national award follows success at State level where Lucille was named the 2008 Drake International Victorian Tertiary Business Person of the Year and her company, Victorya, won the Victorian Regional Company of the Year and Victorian Community Value Award. Victorya was sponsored by NAB in Warrnambool.

"I was extremely proud of our team," an excited Lucille said after the national awards. "To take out the award at national level was fantastic, more so because the company was promoting sustainable living which is a key concept we all value.

To be a leader of such an innovative and progressive team has been an honour and I look forward to being an ambassador for Deakin and the YAA."

Lucille moved from her home in Merbein South, near Mildura, to study a Bachelor of Management/Advanced Diploma of Tourism. The course combines a degree at Deakin's Warrnambool campus with an Advanced Diploma at the nearby South West Institute of TAFE.

Originally, she was attracted to a career in law and, on completing Year 12, gained a place in a law course at an Adelaide University. But seeing the Warrnambool course prompted a change of heart. "I realised I didn't like the idea of being at school for another six years," Lucille said. "I saw the Deakin course and thought it sounded fun and interesting so I changed my preferences."

There are no regrets about the last minute decision. "I loved it," Lucille said of her course. "We had to do a lot of events so we were backing up what we were learning at uni with the practical side. I worked on Fun for Kids, the Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Koroit Irish Festival."

Associate Professor Greg Wood, from the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin's Warrnambool campus, was delighted that 'a student from Mildura who chose to study at Warrnambool' could experience such success against competition from the large universities. "It's fantastic,' he said. "Lucille has done immensely well and she now knows she can do these things and can challenge the boundaries."

The opportunity to complete a Bachelor of Management in conjunction with an Advanced Diploma of Tourism or Hospitality means students benefit both ways, Prof Wood said. "They learn the practical skills plus the management skills they need to advance in different areas." A focus on strong partnerships with business in the local community is reaping benefits all round, he added, and the Faculty of Business and Law's flagship course, the Bachelor of Commerce, based at the Warrnambool Campus continues to offer students the opportunity to study in a country environment. Warrnambool's two-year law course also is proving a winner with increasing numbers opting to study at the rural location before proceeding to Geelong or Burwood to finish the course.

After VCE results become available on December 15, students will have until December 22 to change their preferences. Deakin University will conduct special information sessions at various locations to help with the decision making process.