THE Paringa branch of Women in Agriculture and Business had The Murray Pioneer editor Hugh Schuitemaker as their final speaker of the year. Hugh grew up in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, where he attended Norwood Morialta High School and recalled enjoying reading and English, and in year 10, at aged 14, when he took a journalism class. He completed high school in 2009 with the aim of studying journalism at UniSA, however he chose to spend a gap year travelling through south-east Asia before taking up his studies. The journalism degree attracts many students, however the dropout rate is very high as aspirations of being travel writers and foreign correspondents quickly disappear.

Hugh completed his three-year degree and his first employment for a few yea