A self-diagnosed quarter-life crisis inspired award-winning Griffith University graduate and Kate Crouch to pursue a university degree.

The hotel manager had been working in hospitality for eight years when she made the career-changing decision to study a double degree in criminology and psychology.

“I thought about the things that really interested me and realised all of my books related to human behaviour and why people commit crimes,’’ she said.

“I had always been interested in corrections and a career in psychology in prisons sounded interesting,’’

“I knew Griffith offered a criminology degree but when I saw the double with psychology I knew I needed to apply.”

Kate managed to juggle a full-time management position with full-time study, and her hard work paid off, winning the Criminology and Criminal Justice Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

“Many of my courses were theory or statistical-based, so required a lot of external reading which sometimes proved difficult when working up to 40 hours a week and attending on-campus lectures and tutorials.”

Kate says she overcame this by developing excellent time management skills and gave 100% commitment to her work and studies.

“I was also fortunate to have a supportive general manager and colleagues who were flexible in allowing me to work around class timetables and exams.

“Another reason which made it easier is that I loved what I was learning and am passionate about achieving good results.”

But it wasn’t all hard work.

“The aspect I enjoyed most about studying at Griffith was the close friendships made. I could not have achieved the results I did without them and my journey would have been far less enjoyable,’’ she said.

“We always celebrated the end of semester with a drink or two!’’

Kate would like to work in criminal intelligence and in particular, organised crime, drug use and trafficking, mental health and sexual offending.

“I am also interested in corrections and would love to conduct research on prison populations and women in prison.”

“I would thoroughly recommend the double degree in psychology and criminology as it provides students with such a diverse range of career opportunities and avenues to explore.”

Kate graduated with more than 1000 students at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre today.