Few people across the country had as good a week as newly qualified veterinary nurse Nicole had recently.
Only a few days after saying yes, when partner Harrison popped the question, she was named Student of the Year for Box Hill institute of TAFE.
It was a colleague at Rose City Vets, Di Turner, who dobbed Nicole in and said how proud and happy everyone at work was for her.
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“Being named student of the year has only recently been announced,” Ms Turner said.
“She was so excited, but also a bit disappointed as there would have been a whole graduation ceremony and she would have been told at that event.
“Thanks to COVID-19 that was cancelled and she was notified by email.
“But we are all really proud of her and are planning a big celebration as soon as we can have one.
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“She is such a hard worker, she is dedicated and she is a beautiful person.
“We were all so pleased when she announced she was getting married.
“I've known her since she was eight, and have seen her grow up into this wonderful person, we are all so pleased for her.”
Nicole has been undertaking the course at Box Hill online, while working at Rose City Vets.
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“So with this course I only had to go into Melbourne four times a year for practical workshops,” Nicole said.
“I never expected to win student of the year for the campus.
“I knew I had been shortlisted, but it was a big shock to find out I had won.”
And Nicole got that news only days after becoming engaged.
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“I expected the proposal a bit more than the award,” Nicole joked.
“But it was very exciting and now we have lots of planning for the wedding.”
Nicole said the couple had not set a date as yet, and would wait for the pandemic to settle down before putting more thought into it.
“Now I'm fully qualified, and engaged, I think we will be staying in Benalla for a while,” Nicole said.
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“We are both pretty happy here and it's a great place to live.”
Congratulations Nicole and Harrison from the Benalla Ensign family.
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