To the outsider, Hannah Dawson graduating with a fourth degree may look like a significant achievement.
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But for her and her family it is much more a symbol of overcoming than an award.
"I feel very, very privileged to be graduating today," she said on Thursday.
This feeling stemmed from the prejudice her great-grandfather, Jimmie Barker, experienced on his first day of school in Brewarrina NSW while living on an Aboriginal mission in the early 20th Century.
"He was told as a 12-year-old boy that he was absolutely worth nothing and that it was a complete waste of time to teach Aborigines."
Ms Dawson felt she had finally found her calling by having completed a master's degree in Public Policy and wanted to be at the forefront of policy in design and creation.
"I've always been fascinated with public policy."
"My parents were flabbergasted when as a five-year-old kid I wanted to watch the news instead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When the usual scheduling of Sesame Street was interrupted by Question Time, I felt quite at home."
Her passion for Indigenous education is a great source of motivation for Ms Dawson and she hoped to be part of an opportunity taking Indigenous students on a study tour of many prestigious universities in the United Kingdom and United States.
Even though this is her fourth degree, the self-confessed 'academia addict' still has aspirations for further study in either a master's of philosophy at the University of Oxford or a master's of science in land economy research at the University of Cambridge.
Ms Dawson gave a speech at the graduation ceremony on Thursday where she expressed her thankfulness to the university.
"As a recipient of the Garrurru Postgraduate Scholarship and the Indigenous Student Legal Workshop Scholarship, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Australian National University for its overwhelming support of my education here and, more broadly, for this institution's leadership in and commitment to reconciliation," she said.
Offering some powerful words to her fellow graduates, she said: "perseverance is a powerful ally to have when all the odds seem against you".
These words would encourage the next influx of students, such as 17-year old Canberra Grammar School student, Brendan Falk.
He is one of 25 students from around the country to receive the Tuckwell Scholarship to study at the ANU from 2015.
The scholarship awards Mr Falk $22 000 towards his undergraduate degree annually, as well as grants him academic and career mentoring throughout his study.
