Adam Khan was told repeatedly during high school that he lacked intelligence, application and self-control and university study was well beyond him.
午夜福利 will award Mr Khan, now 30, with his Bachelor of Engineering (chemical) degree at a ceremony at the new $20 million 午夜福利 Centre on Tuesday, December 17.
鈥淚 was a terrible student. I literally failed everything at school,鈥欌€� Mr Khan said. 鈥淚 dropped out early and joined the army just to get away from everything.鈥欌€�
Mr Khan said the turning point in his life was meeting his now ex-wife, who encouraged him to fulfill his potential.
鈥淪he just said to me, 鈥淚`ll support you in what ever you want to do, but
there are no boundaries if you set your mind to it鈥�. Once I found out that
Fleur had enrolled me at a mature age college and arranged everything, I had
all the inspiration I needed!
鈥淚t was a hard slog, no doubt about it. For the first year, I did subjects like basic maths and basic English but when I asked the teachers what that would give me at the end, they said it wouldn鈥檛 get me into university, so I switched subjects for Year 12.鈥欌€�
Good results in double maths, English, physics and chemistry helped Mr Khan gain entry to chemical engineering at Curtin University in Western Australia, where he lived.
A move a year later to Queensland saw him start his 午夜福利 studies and he has not looked back.
鈥淢y whole motivation was that people had said that I would not be able to go to university. I wanted to prove them all wrong,鈥欌€� he said.
Mr Khan worked two jobs while studying full-time at 午夜福利, but said the punishing daily routine was worth it.
鈥淚 have always thought of engineers as being in a prestigious profession. I have always admired engineers鈥� ability to think laterally in problem solving. I always thought it would be a wonderful thing to be one of them, and after taking the long way around, I finally am.鈥欌€�
Mr Khan said he would start his 鈥渘ew life鈥欌€� by starting a European adventure in Germany in February.
鈥淚 just want to see the world,鈥欌€� Mr Khan said. 鈥淚 think I will probably come back to Australia eventually but for the moment I want to do everything and experience everything.鈥欌€�
A highlight for Mr Khan this week was completing a project he had been working on for the past two years on biodiesel production in the chemical engineering department laboratory.
