My name's Nic Badullovich and I'm from Moruya on the South Coast in New South Wales...
And I'm a second year science student at ANU majoring in earth science, specialising in
geochemistry and petrology. I'm the youngest of six. My three oldest brothers, Andrew,
Daniel and Greg, and Catherine my eldest sister.
And I have another sister Lana so there's a lot of us. Mum and dad were born in Sydney.
They moved down to the coast...
Before Lana and I were born. Mum is a hairdresser by trade. Dad used to work for the council...
But then he had to retire for health reasons so he mainly stays at home and takes care
of the house, and you know feeds all the animals and what not. What I like most about home
is being able to come home and see my family. I enjoy the coast. I haven't really been
the biggest beach person but moving away from it you start to appreciate it. Since
I've been a kid I've always wanted to work for NASA and it's just always been
like that, and I've always been interested in space. Kind of just be interested in these,
you know, sci-fi movies and then it would go to documentaries and real things. Videos
from people that have been on the international space station. You see them floating around
and doing cool things, you think, wow, you know, I'd like to do that. NASA's been
a lifelong dream. There will be different things along the way, different opportunities
come up. I'll still take those opportunities if I wish but I see myself one day eventually
getting a job that I want at NASA and that's pretty much where I'll stay.
Well I come out and close up all the house and garage and stuff and look up at the sky
and all of a sudden I get mesmerised and say, "Holy hell look at this. What is it? What
makes these things shine and who could be up there?" You know, things like
that and yeah and then that sort of got me really interested more, you know, and then
-- then Nic starts doing it and well, hallelujah.
Mum and dad were always keen when I was keen to look at astronomy or anything else, they
were always keen to learn about it as well. They'd be really good at getting involved
in what I want to do. They know and they understand and we talk all the time about what I'm
doing. They just help to reinforce the support that they have which is helpful, especially
when you're living away from home. It's hard to explain, but I guess everybody knows
what I'm trying to say with how you feel about your parents.
I love cutting his hair when he comes home. Nic is the first of our children to go to
uni, so it's all new for us as parents as well. It's not really till you get there
that you realise that there is a whole big world out there and there's a lot of courses
and a lot of subjects that will bring you on a parallel to somewhere where you want
to go.
There's a story behind every student and until you know what that story is you really
don't get the full picture. And with Nic there was definitely...
a story, he loved space. At one stage I think you were talking about University of New South
Wales and then this fantastic opportunity came up with ANU.
Yeah. That's right yes.
And there was just -- there was no looking back.
Exactly.
From that moment on, it was this is the plan.
Yeah.
So and, you know, you did all your research, and that's one thing I'll say about Nic
he, you know, not only did he have the plan he had, you know, all the steps in order to
fulfil the goals, he had it all worked out. He knew what questions he had to ask you.
He knew what he needed to know.
When I started my degree I went in with intentions of physics and maths. I hadn't considered
earth science at all. It wasn't a matter of me hating it, it's just I never did it and
I never thought I would like it. And I ended up getting pretty good marks for the first course
I did and I just thought well I really liked it and I think subconsciously I've always
liked it, it was just a matter of discovering that.
In regional areas you had to be more independent as a student in terms of study. We haven't
got all the facilities, and I think that's very important they put you in good stead
for when you go to university.
Yeah that's right but once you get there it's all about self-directed learning.
My word yeah. That's what you need, that's what we encourage.
ANU's got a really nice campus. It's really green. It's also really big, they've got
a lot of different departments which I think is really cool, you know, a lot of different
people studying in the same spot but doing different things. I feel like I've fitted into uni
really well. You go to your class and learn stuff but then you also teach yourself a lot
and, you know, I've gotten involved in some clubs and societies like Student Equity. And
my role in Equity is encouraging high school students to think about university. There
are certain things I would have loved to have a university student there to ask questions,
I like to try and do that for other students. If they have questions, I'm just happy to answer
them all day for them. The Equity takes care of a lot of regional and rural remote students
that come to ANU and it's just a really good connection to have. Advice I'd give
to regional students would be, don't be afraid to ask questions. It's hard to get
to university for a day and open days, you can always phone, you can always email. It's
all right if you don't know what you want to do. Just have a few things like say maybe
I'll do science, maybe I'll do economics, maybe I'll do a Bachelor of Arts. See what's
inside those degrees, there's no point in studying what your parents want or what your
friends want you to study, and find a subject that you do like and it's not going to be
even like study it's just going to be what you like to do. And get involved in a lot
of things and try things out, and take up as many opportunities as possible.