 Hi, my name's Catherine Collara. I'm a teacher at Northern Peninsula Area State College. I teach at Bamega Primary Campus. I've been teaching for three years and loving every second of it. I gained my education through a Rata program which is Remote Area Teacher Employment Programme and that was a five-year course. I was a teacher aid for a Grade 5 class and the teacher at the time had asked me to to apply for Rata and he had a bit more faith in me than I did but I gave it a go and I was thankfully accepted. I studied two years at the Fire North Queensland TAFE and three years at James Cook University which enabled me to study on-site at Bamega. To gain a degree in any field I think you need to have determination, commitment and direction and you need to have a complete support network surrounded by your family and friends to ensure that you can achieve those goals and be the person that you want to be. High education has enabled me to teach in my home community and it has allowed me to be an inspiration if not hopefully for some of the people in this area. I think the the most positive thing that you can gain from any success is being able to do something that you truly and want to do and to inspire others to do what you're doing as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people in the program. I had the privilege as well of giving the graduate address at the university graduation so I thought that was a massive highlight and a great achievement. My family were very proud of my successes and I was very grateful for their support and you can't get far without family and friends. For those who want to get out there and have a go at teaching, especially Indigenous people, I thoroughly recommend you take onboard Ratat. It's a great process and it's a path that you won't look back on. You'll get to meet new people, you'll learn new things and as you develop through your career once you become a teacher you'll continue to engage and learn with the children and the community.