About me

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream.” C.S. Lewis.

My name is Iris Onvlee. My husband Case and I have been married for 36 years and have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren. Along with my husband we live in Maryborough Queensland. Maryborough is situated 255km north of Brisbane and is a suburb of the Fraser Coast. As well as studying I work fulltime as a Data Administrator.

I am in my final year of completing a Bachelor of Accounting. I am studying as a parttime student via Distance Education. I am aiming to complete my degree this term. All things going right with passing my last two deferred exams due to ill health in Term 1 and passing two subjects this semester.

As I ponder about my adventure through the years there has been many milestones to get to where I am today? I left school in 1975 as a 15 year old teenager to start my way into my life long adventure. I didn’t get the chance to finish year 10 as my parents couldn’t afford to keep me at school.

My first job awaited me where I worked in the local cafe. Over the next few years I worked in various restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets. At the young age of 22 I married and by the time I was 26 had two small children.

In 1988 I went back to work as a Store manager in a local Big Rooster store after about 4 years I moved to Gympie to take on the role of opening a new store. At this point of time I had tendered my resignation due to family circumstances. A year later in 1994 my youngest child was born.

In 2000 my journey in a new future started. I completed my Certificate IV Teacher Aide and also started with CQU in a WIST Course with a bridging course for university. Over the next few years I gained my skills to start my degree.

In 2008 I then ventured to my first year in a Bachelor of Learning Design. I completed the Diploma part of that course and changed over in 2013 to a Bachelor of Learning Management. During the year I was sidelined from my work with a foot reconstruction and during the 7 weeks away from my work I came to the conclusion that my passion was not for Teaching. This is where I decided that I was more suited to doing Bachelor of Business.

I now live in Maryborough, Queensland and working at gaining my qualifications to become an Accountant. I chose to study Accounting in 2017 after starting out in 2014 when I decided to study a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Information Systems) will give me new skills within the administration area.

However, after studying for the first 2 years part-time found out that I needed to change over my degree due to Bachelor of Accounting so that I could gain my CPA status once I have finished university. With the change over, the courses that I studied were transferred across allowing me finish my degree.

I am looking at myself right now wondering how many 58 year olds would be in my boat. After many years of struggling with study and working full time gaining a degree will be an accomplishment in itself for me. My goal was to finish my degree when my husband retired however due to change of job location in 2015, my husband was forced to retire early.

With some health issues this year I was advised to slow down and take things a little easier. As i have two subjects to go this term will hopefully be my last and allowing me to graduate at the end of this year.