When Perth mother Sharon Swaney applied to study a science degree at Curtin University, she was already up against the odds.<\/p>\n
As a mature aged student and in the midst of a divorce she faced the possibility of an extremely uncertain future.<\/p>\n
But she\u2019ll tell you herself, she was more determined than ever to go to university and study.<\/p>\n
“I thought, I can do it too. It\u2019s not just for young people,” she said.<\/p>\n
And for son Maxwell, who had already been studying at the Bentley campus for a year,\u00a0her choice meant some adjusting.<\/p>\n
He was going to be studying with his mother \u2013 while he studied psychology, Sharon majored in health promotion.<\/p>\n
As any kid in his early teens and 20s will tell you, it\u2019s very hard to come to terms with the fact your mum will now be your unofficial tavern buddy.<\/p>\n
“Maxwell initially thought uni was his thing, and for the first few years we didn\u2019t see much of\u00a0each other on campus while he grew up a bit,” Sharon said.<\/p>\n
“When Mum first told me I was like, \u2018hey, uni is my stomping ground\u2019,” Maxwell said.<\/p>\n
But soon, the pair found themselves going for coffee, meeting up for lunch and eventually, confronting the possibility of studying a sexology unit together.<\/p>\n
“We both agreed it couldn\u2019t happen. We have a great relationship\u00a0but that would have been asking too much,” Sharon said.<\/p>\n
While they never took the class together, Maxwell\u00a0developed a comedy skit\u00a0\u2019Studying Sexology with my mum\u2019, which he performed at an open mic competition\u00a0at Curtin Tavern \u2013 to an audience that included Sharon.<\/p>\n
And just this week, the pair graduated from their degrees with honours.<\/p>\n
“I am really pleased with my achievement \u2013 but I am twice as proud of my son,” Sharon said.<\/p>\n
But Maxwell disagrees \u2013 he said it was\u00a0very difficult not to be impressed with his mum\u2019s achievements.<\/p>\n
“If there was any competition I would lose,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Mum is on the Vice\u00a0Chancellor\u2019s list.”<\/p>\n
Maxwell is hoping to work as a school psychologist after he completes a post graduate\u00a0diploma this year, and Sharon is currently the Deputy Chair of the Immunisation Alliance of WA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on WAtoday<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And more importantly, what happens when you have to study sexology together?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":6665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-6664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"Graduate snapshots","content":" Name: Sharon Swaney
\nStudied: Bachelor of Science (Public Health) (Honours)<\/a>
\nGraduated: 2018
\nStudied: Bachelor of Science (Health Promotion)<\/a>
\nGraduated: 2016<\/p>\n