Physics is such a broad area of study that it can benefit you in almost any career you choose to go into.
Like a lot of high school kids, Nathan enjoyed sports but struggled academically.
Especially with maths.
After trying and failing he began to believe people who told him that he just wasn’t any good at it.
Eventually he gave up, assumed he wasn't very smart and dropped out of high school in Year 11.
"Blokes with soft hands go to uni, everyone else gets a trade"
Growing up in a blue-collar family in Australia, this was common thinking around Nathan.
As a result, he spent most of my twenties 'floating' in industries like construction, painting, metal work, automotive repair, and diesel fitting.
"I felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole," says Nathan
He didn’t enjoy working with his hands as much as he thought he should.
"You're smart but you aren't educated. You need to go to school"
Years passed and Nathan soldiered on, settling into a mining role and working his way up to being second-in-charge of logistics.
However, a casual conversation with a work colleague, an established engineer, led to a serendipitous moment in Nathan's life.
The colleague had noticed a change in Nathan's attitude at work and sensing his frustration asked him what he was doing with his life and career.
He said he thought Nathan was smart but lacked formal education and advised him to go back to university.
Still, Nathan was dubious about this as he didn't think that a university would accept a 'high school dropout'.
Fortunately, he decided to visit Edith Cowan University and ask anyway.
To his amazement, he discovered an enrolment pathway called UniPrep just for people like him.
He signed up on the spot.
In his happy place: ECU Physics major Nathan Pittaway getting hands-on in one of the university's modern science laboratories.
"Physics felt like magic to me, learning how everything around us works"
After passing his university preparation course, Nathan enrolled with the objective of becoming an engineer.
But after doing his introductory physics and chemistry units, he realised that he really wanted to study physics.
It felt like magic to him.
"Learning how everything works and being able to quantitatively explain everyday occurrences was fascinating," he says.
Ironically, it also led him back full circle to relearn the mathematics he ran away from in high school!
This time though, he enjoyed the experience.
Nathan says that physics is almost as much about philosophy as it is about science.
"It has greatly improved my problem-solving ability and changed the way I see things around me."
"Physics is such a broad area of study that it can benefit you in almost any career that you choose in the future."
Nathan (pictured) says that physics is almost as much about philosophy as it is about science.
"My life would have been far easier had I learned TEE/ATAR mathematics in high school"
Nathan found it challenging but 'incredibly satisfying' to have not only caught up on the maths he avoided in high school, but to start wrapping his head around complex physics theory – all within a year.
"While Uniprep is a fantastic way into university, my life would have been far easier had I learned TEE/ATAR mathematics in high school," he says.
"I would encourage any student going into Year 11 to step up and try to learn all the maths while you are still in school".
Some great advice from a so-called high school dropout.
