A woman who graduated from the University of South Wales with first class honours despite leaving school with no qualifications has spoken of her desire to build a better life.
Abbi Smith recently graduated with a first-class honours degree in International Wildlife Biology from the university.
Despite struggling with the school environment during her teenage years, the 31-year-old from Cardiff defied the odds and earned a university education.
Ms Smith said: "School wasn’t great for me. I broke my leg and had some health issues, but then had a few challenges with school, so stopped wanting to go.
"I didn't particularly enjoy learning back then."
After leaving school, she worked as a carer for four years before deciding to change the course of her life.
She spoke to relatives in Marahau, New Zealand, and decided to work at a hostel they owned in Abel Tasman.
Her conversation with her relatives spawned a quick yet life-changing move to New Zealand.
Abbi said: "I decided to take them up on their offer and that was where my life changed."
She spent two years in New Zealand before embarking on a year-long adventure in Australia followed by stints in Canada and Egypt.
"Whenever I ran out of money from travelling, I stopped and got a job," she said.
Realising the necessity of qualifications for a more settled life in New Zealand, she returned to the UK to pursue the necessary education to achieve her goal.
"I decided it was time to come back to Britain and get the qualifications needed to settle back in New Zealand," she said.
Without missing a beat, Ms Smith got down to work, all while dealing with the news of a complicating medical condition.
She said: "I'd had endometriosis and when I went into surgery for the condition I was told I’d need to have a baby within a year or it might not happen."
Consequently, she became pregnant and gave birth to her son three months before her examinations.
She said: "Thankfully, I had enough support around me to get through and got my place at USW, starting when my son had just turned one."
Her time at the University of South Wales (USW) allowed her to combine her interests in wildlife and conservation.
She said: "I wanted to do something within conservation to help the animals that are suffering from our input to the planet.
"I'm not saying I can fix it all myself, but there will be a chance that, when he's older, he won't get to see that animals I've seen, they'll all be extinct, and I don’t want that."
Having achieved her first-class honours degree, Ms Smith has set her sights on further education, steadily moving towards her ultimate goal of raising her son in New Zealand.
She added: "Ever since I stayed there for a few years, I knew it was the place where I want to bring up a child.
“While in New Zealand I knew a lady who had two young children, and their lifestyle was to come home from school and to go surfing or paddle boarding ,or they'd be out rock climbing and in nature. Over here the kids go home and play on the Xbox.
"I wanted to get a lot closer to nature and have a better lifestyle for my son."
Ms Smith graduated at the ICC Wales in Newport.
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