There’s a fair chance conversation around the Trussler dinner table regularly turns to the challenges of studying a university science course.
In what might be a first for the Deakin University Warrnambool Campus, father Mark Trussler and daughter Rebecca have enrolled in the same environmental science (marine biology) course.
While Mark is one year ahead of Rebecca, they do crossover and share the same classroom for chemistry.
There’s no sign of father-daughter rivalry over results and instead Mark and Rebecca enjoy bouncing questions off each other and helping where they can.
Mark, 44, has been in Australia for about six years after moving from Suffolk in the United Kingdom. He moved from Horsham to Koroit last year to study at Deakin with his wife and two younger children.
Mark had been a cabinet maker for more than 20 years but after moving to Australia, became a house husband.
“I wanted to move away from the physical work and the dust that comes from working with wood in cabinet making,” he said.
He had planned to study architecture but while doing a bridging course to help him get back into study mode and to help with his dyslexia, an essay about the Great Barrier Reef opened his mind to the option of marine biology.
“I became interested in biology and it went on from there,” he said.
Mark admits returning to study was tough, particularly as he continues to be a house husband and the family is building a new home, and so, he's reduced his number of units.
However, support from his teachers in Warrnambool has helped and Mark is receiving the Frances O’Connor Award which recognises great endeavour in environmental science studies.
Mark said studying alongside his daughter was working well. “She has a bit more understanding about chemistry so I ask questions, and I’ve completed a year in Warrnambool and know a few things so hopefully it works both ways.”
Rebecca, 19, moved to Australia last September to live with her father at Koroit, partly prompted by her desire to change genders.
Formerly known as Ross, Rebecca is hoping to begin gender reassignment later this year.
She said Australia’s laws were not as advanced as England’s but socially it was a lot more accepted. Rebecca is being supported by her father through the process and she said the University had been very accepting.
Rebecca plans to move to Geelong next year to study general or forensic science, using credits from her study in Warrnambool.
“We’re in the same class for chemistry and it’s been fine so far,” Rebecca said. “We don’t really share notes but it’s handy to discuss things we don’t quite understand.”
Rebecca plans a career in scientific teaching or further research.
She is enjoying the experience of studying in Warrnambool. “The lecturers are very helpful and because of the small class sizes, you get great contact with them.”