Mr Bucktin was nominated for vocational student of the year after studying certificate IV in cyber security and certificate three information, digital media and technology with Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE.
The nomination placed him in the top three vocational students across the state, and GOTAFE chief executive Travis Heeney said Mr Bucktin’s achievement in completing the course had come through “incredible commitment to his studies”.
Transgender, Mr Bucktin has dealt with anxiety, depression, homelessness and limited mainstream high school education to complete his studies.
He didn’t win the award, but said the nomination was enough of a reward and recognition for the milestone he’d reached.
“At first, I was really shy and too afraid to ask any questions, and then over time my confidence grew and I began to be proud of my work, because at first I had low confidence and I always underestimated the quality of my work, but then my TAFE teachers provided me with extremely positive feedback and even one of the reports I wrote was used as an example for other students,” he said.
Mr Bucktin’s educational challenges started to climb when he left mainstream schooling in Year 8. He bounced around institutions until he completed intermediate Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning at the Shepparton Flexible Learning Centre.
“When I first started studying at GOTAFE I had never been in an education environment with structure like that with deadlines and stuff like that,” he said.
“So I found that challenging, but overcame it.”
It is a great advancement on being afraid to leave the house as a young teenager.
“When I was in mainstream school, I was struggling to leave my house because I'm transgender and at the time was not comfortable being seen by anyone so I just hid in my house and suffered from depression and anxiety,” Mr Bucktin said.
“Then, when I went to Shepparton Flexible Learning Centre, the teachers there really helped me and always gave me positive feedback.
“As a child, I didn't believe them, but then at GOTAFE I finally started to believe in my abilities, that I can do anything I want, that my work is good enough and I'm good enough. I can achieve anything I want.”
Mr Bucktin was also homeless for some of his studies after his family was evicted from their house.
A stint with the Salvation Army’s short-term accommodation followed before he was accepted for a property through Beyond Housing.
“I live with my partner and everything is so good,” he said.
Mr Bucktin said, at first, he had trouble believing he had been nominated for the award ahead of “all the amazing students at GOTAFE”.
“I believe I was chosen because my story, I guess, is unique and hopefully can provide inspiration for other people who are quiet or shy and don't believe in themselves, but when they want to study, they think, yep, I'm able to do this,” he said.
“There's always help, especially at GOTAFE. There's lots of help around. Those other services that provide lots of help too, like headspace or Salvation Army, places like that.”
