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Chloe Di Gemma (2019)
Wednesday, 30 September 2020
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After graduating from Lauriston last year, Chloe was offered a place to study a Bachelor of Animation co-majoring in Japanese at Swinburne University commencing this year. As a figure skater, Chloe was also accepted into the Elite Athlete Friendly University program. This allowed her to apply for a deferral from her studies in Semester 1 so she could train overseas at the Broadmoor Ice Hall in Colorado Springs in the United States. Unfortunately, like so many of our first-year-outs, the global pandemic interrupted her plans after just six weeks. Following the Federal Government’s announcement that all Australians should start making their way home, Chloe returned home to Melbourne on one of the last Qantas flights from Los Angeles towards the end of March. "Travelling at this time was quite daunting, says Chloe. Especially with the entourage of police, medical personnel in PPE and bio security officers in hazmat suits who boarded our aircraft at Tullamarine Airport." Chloe spent 14 days in home quarantine with a police visit followed by the Stage 3 lockdown. Chloe considers herself lucky to have her university deferral reversed and she started her degree online in mid-April. The off-ice zoom classes with her American and Australian coaches have also helped her to stay connected with her sport and maintain her fitness level. During the semester break in June, the ice rinks re-opened so Chloe travelled to Sydney to train with her coaches. Chloe has since been based in Sydney as it was not possible to return to Victoria due to the rapidly changing public health situation in the state. This decision turned out to be in the best interests for Chloe. She is continuing to study her degree online and also has the opportunity of experiencing living and competing in another city, albeit in Australia. We wish you all the best with your endeavours going forward Chloe! Keep it up! |