As a 10-year-old girl growing up in Cairns Lacey Rowett loved the Reef and thought she might become a marine biologist.
Now 21, she remains passionate about protecting sea life but says Law and Psychology degrees from Bond University have upgraded her ambitions from local to global.
Ms Rowett, a former vice-captain of Redlynch State College, has graduated to a role with a top-tier law firm despite the toughest job market in a generation.
"As a child I dreamed of working directly with animals and the environment, but I hadn’t considered the variety of ways I could help indirectly," she said ahead of her graduation ceremony last week.
"Climate change is the challenge I find the most interesting because there is a lot of problem-solving to be done.
"Down the track I'd like to work for an organisation like Greenpeace or the WWF in a policy role."
Ms Rowett secured a Vice Chancellor's Elite Scholarship to study at Bond, beginning in 2016.
Since then she has participated in the university's Transformer program for student entrepreneurs and travelled to Canada for the World's Challenge Challenge, an international competition for students seeking to solve global issues.
Her team put forward a plan to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change.
Ms Rowett also served as president of the Bond University Student Association.
She now works in the environment and planning team at MinterEllison after coming to the attention of one of her associate professors, also a Bond graduate and a partner at the international law firm.
"She reached out over LinkedIn and invited me to do some work experience and then they offered me a graduate position," Ms Rowett said.
"Environment and planning is pretty varied. In any week, we may be in court for the prosecution of a development offence, providing advice on koala habitat, and drafting a new local law on vegetation management.
"Our clients include local governments, and residential and commercial developers."
Ms Rowett said university students should embrace all the opportunities presented during their degrees and leverage new connections.
"Going to Bond was the best choice I could have made and the best years of my life so far.
"Time flies by but I managed to squeeze in everything that I could."