Jackson Dowling’s story begins in Port Macquarie, with loving parents, a surfboard under his arm and an appetite for almost any sport that might earn him a day away from the classroom.
Education was not where Jackson imagined his future would be. By Year 9, he was considering leaving school for an apprenticeship. But somewhere in him remained the idea of boarding school and the opportunities it might offer.
So Jackson applied for a scholarship to attend The Scots College in Sydney. He was unsuccessful.
A trusted mentor encouraged him to knock on the door again. Jackson reapplied and, the second time, that door opened.
Supported by a means-tested bursary and later the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, Jackson entered boarding school in Year 10. It was an enormous culture shock. Academically, he knew he had ground to make up. Socially, he was finding his place in a completely unfamiliar world.
Rather than retreat, Jackson dug in.
He accepted tutoring, spent hours studying and committed himself to making the most of an opportunity he knew could change his life. As he says, he learned to “embrace the suck factor”, accepting that sometimes we must be willing to be uncomfortable, inexperienced and even quite bad at something before we can become good.
That willingness to persevere has shaped every stage of Jackson’s life. It carried him through a nursing degree he initially disliked, years in one of Sydney’s busiest emergency departments, midwifery training and the demanding experience required to become a Flight Nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He is now completing postgraduate para-medicine studies and considering what the next challenge might be.
Jackson believes almost every opportunity he has received as an adult can be traced back to those three years at boarding school. It changed his relationship with education, surrounded him with exceptional mentors and proved that he could do difficult things.
This conversation arrived at exactly the right time for me. Building the Spirit of the Bush Scholarship Foundation from the ground up is hard. It requires belief that others will see what we see, support it and help make life-changing scholarships possible. Seeds of self-doubt sprout daily.
Jackson reminded me to keep chipping those sprouts away. To keep knocking, keep digging in and keep doing the next hard thing.
Because the opportunity on the other side may change a life.
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