This article was originally published on CQUniversity’s website in May 2024.
After seeing his father struggle with back pain, Cody Boland was determined to help others – with his drive earning him a GWI CQUniCares scholarship to support his chiropractic studies.
The 19-year-old Bachelor of Science (Chiropractic) student is studying in Brisbane, far from home and family, but the scholarship has made the distance manageable.
The scholarship, awarded by Brisbane-based information technology consultancy firm, ‘GWI‘ is valued at $5000 with two CQUniversity students receiving the scholarship each year.
“CQU was the best fit for my dream to become a chiropractor, I’ve always wanted to work in health and my whole family, my dad especially, suffers from back pain,” he said.
“I’d love to be able to remove that burden from them, especially after all the things my dad has done for me.”
Cody said his dad was one of the first people he called when he was awarded the scholarship.
“I distinctly remember calling my dad the second I was notified about it and our whole family was ecstatic,” he said.
“This scholarship has been a colossal help with my studies, allowing me to focus more on studying rather than juggling extra work between my lectures.
“I currently live with my aunt in Palm Beach, because truthfully, I can’t afford to live any closer to the city. I’m roughly 600km away from my hometown of Laurieton in NSW and missing my family dearly.
“It’s roughly a four-hour return trip from my house to the campus and the cost of that really starts to add up, however, this scholarship has really given me a lot of peace of mind during that trip.
“Living so far from the campus definitely has its challenges, as the train definitely isn’t the best study environment and it takes up a strong portion of the day, but overall I’m managing to cope.
“Not to mention the costs of textbooks, extra reading material, stationery etc, it has lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders. I’ve maintained roughly a 90 per cent average across all my units and I feel this scholarship has been a big factor in that.”
GWI CEO, Neil Makepeace said that he was thrilled Cody was offered the CQUniCares GWI Scholarship.
“On behalf of the whole GWI team, we wish Cody the best in completing his studies at CQUniversity. We are proud to be able to positively impact the lives of talented and deserving people who may otherwise be unable to complete their studies.”
Cody said he hoped to start his own chiropractic practice after he completes his studies.
“In future I’d love to have my practice develop into a clinic and hopefully a business where I can provide help to many different communities and also offer a starting place for other chiropractic students who have finished their studies.
“Overall, I’d just like to thank CQUniversity and the GWI team as a whole for helping me pursue my dream and providing such a great help to me upon my endeavours.”
Written by Greg Chapman
