Bindi Horvath dropped out of school after Year 10, had her first child at 18 and worked a series of jobs from hairdresser to legal secretary to cleaner.
Now the Gympie resident has a plum position as a graduate nurse on a hospital's acute surgical ward after receiving a medal for academic excellence with a university nursing science degree - all before the age of 40.
She tells her story:
"I'm an 'army brat' so my father's work had us move to a different state every two years. I went to so many schools. My first after-school job was in an ice-cream parlour. I dropped out of high school after Year 10 due to some pretty awful bullying.
I was living out of home at 15, paying my own way on $138 a week in a tiny unit right on the Burpengary train station with a similarly aged roommate.
I got my Cert 3 in business administration and a full-time job as a legal receptionist, then moved up to secretary, then conveyancer.
My first child was born when I was 18 and my now-husband, Chris, was 20. My husband and I have been together for 22 years. We have three incredibly talented kids - Deklan, Rogue and Imoen - but we also, together, moved through the loss of our second child, Hunter.
