Ready, set, Head Start

Forest Lake State High School student Reagan Nicol was so excited to experience university life that he quite literally couldn’t wait until he finished school.

The current Year 12 student has already completed two Head Start courses with the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) and is on to his third.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he achieved a Distinction for the first two psychology courses and has big dreams to go on to study a Master of Clinical Psychology with UniSQ as well.

“I was always interested in why humans do what they do; I just found it very interesting learning how the brain works and what the motivations are behind what people do,” Mr Nicol said.

“First, I want to get my Master in Clinical Psychology, and from there I’ve got multiple plans in mind.

“I could try and open my own clinic, or perhaps during my studies, I could train to be a police officer. That way, when I graduate with the Masters, I would have done my police training, and I could apply to be a forensic or criminal psychologist.”

While those goals may seem overly ambitious to some, Mr Nicol has already proven he has the skills and the determination to make it happen.

He’ll have a study buddy and constant supporter in his mum, Katy, who is also studying psychology through UniSQ. In fact, his mum’s involvement in the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) sparked his interest in the first place.

“It all started with my mum – one day she started discussing some of her course content with me and it was just really interesting,” he said.

“I just became infatuated with it.”

And if the two members of his family weren’t enough, his brother Cooper De Lacy has also just started a UniSQ Head Start course in Foundational Programming.

“I'd like to think I inspired him, but I believe he just listened to his heart and chose what he thought was right for him,” Mr Nichol said.

Find out more about studying Head Start at UniSQ.