Marine biology student spreads her wings

She settled on Warrnambool but that hasn’t stopped her from having an international experience as part of her studies.

The second-year marine biology student has already been to Costa Rica to work on a turtle project and will soon embark on an exchange for a semester at Hawaii Pacific University.

Originally from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus was always her number one priority.

'My family used to holiday every year at Port Fairy,' Ms Clark said.  'It’s like my second home down here so it was always the plan to come to Warrnambool, but when I was in high school planning university I looked at all options across Australia and the world.'

One of the tempting options was Hawaii Pacific but Ms Clark eventually went with her first choice of Deakin Warrnambool.

'It’s living up to expectations– I love it here,' she said.

Having gone straight from school to university, Ms Clark remained keen to travel.

'I didn‘t take a gap year so I wanted to get travel opportunities through uni,' she said. Ms Clark organised the exchange where she will study two core subjects in Hawaii that will be credited directly to her Deakin course, along with electives that will also count towards her final outcome.

Earlier this year Ms Clark joined a Deakin research group to Costa Rica for a month to work on a turtle project where students monitored a hatchery, released baby turtles and did night patrols on the beach to collect eggs and protect them from predators. This project also contributed to her course.