Alex left high school in Year12 to have a gap year and make her mind up about what to do next, she ended up in Italy and while there, decided that she would return the following year to study psychology at UC.  Alex worked multiple jobs throughout her degree to manage her finances.  Since graduating she has had three jobs that all required a degree in psychology, Alex says that psychology was definitely her happy place.  She has set herself up with a postgraduate extra year that means the door is open for further study in the future.

Ashley’s life could be described is a journey of many twists and turns.  After completing Year 13 she went to Wellington to study radio and completed her certificate of broadcasting, she came home to Blenheim and worked for Mediaworks but decided that broadcasting wasn’t really for her.  After a series of sad losses in her life that included her mother, a close friend and her grandfather; Ashley decided to venture to Germany as an Au Pair, she shares the highlights of this experience.  Two years after leaving NZ she returned and decided to begin her tertiary education, she was accepted into the Bachelor of Social Work at Massey University distance learning department and is two years into her degree while working full time for Women’s Refuge.  Ashley is a great example of a woman who has tried a few things, found her place and has settled on the career she knows is the best fit for her.  

Cheyenne left school to work in the industry that she knew and understood.  She had grown up working in shearing sheds and after a stint nannying for a dairy family she found herself transitioning into the world of Dairy.  In 2018 she was a finalist in the Ahuwhenua Young Maori of the year and in 2020 received a Dairy NZ Scholarship for her study at Lincoln University.  Cheyenne is passionate about the primary sector and is gaining her degree so that she can be more influential to help young people understand the sector and find their place in it.  She is also a board member on the ‘Meat the Need Charity Board.’

As a child Chloe had the dream of being an early childhood teacher, her parents encouraged her to get a qualification that would enable her to teach from preschool to Year 10.  Chloe attended Massey University for four years to gain her double degree.  She enjoyed life at the Halls of Residence for her first year and flatted with friends she made through the Halls of Residence.  Chloe shares how she wishes she could have been more out-going and confident in her year 13.

Claire knew from a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer and follow in the footsteps of her Grandfather who had worked at Lane Neave.  She stacked her year13 papers specifically with Law in mind choosing Art History, Classics, History, English and Maths.  She was accepted into Law and passed each year gaining the required grades to continue onto the next level of study.  She worked in family law for 8 years before making a monumental change in her life and taking on the General Managers role for All Star Cheerleaders.  Hear how Claire uses her degree today in a completely different way.

From the time Sally started primary school she wanted to be a Vet.  Her entire education was planned towards achieving this dream, which ended up taking 9 years to complete.  After spending her first semester at Massy and not gaining entry Sally knew that it was going to be a long haul for entry.  She decided to relocate to Canterbury, her home town and completed a BSc. at UC and reapply.  It took 4 years before Sally was accepted into the Vet Programme at Massey.  Sally talks about juggling being a Vet, the challenges and her new journey juggling motherhood and work.

Emily was super thorough in her Year13 year, she shares in her story how she spent time in various roles trying to identify what she would like to do with her life.  She settled on nursing and decided for social reasons to study in Christchurch (which she now regrets wishing she had opted to study in Invercargill). Emily gives some great advice for potential nursing students including how to increase your chances of getting a job when you graduate.

Emma left school not really sure what she wanted to do with her life, her teachers strongly advised her not to take a gap year but she knew it was the best thing for her.  After a stint at McDonalds and Cafes in Dunedin and Sydney, Emma had an epiphany moment and knew that she wanted to be a teacher.  She returned to her hometown of Dunedin and began her study as a slightly older student.  Her degree changed in the first year with the University making changes to the structure and she had to change with it.  Emma has plans in the next 20 years to study her PhD and become a lecturer at University.   A very inspiring story of how a gap year can be the right decision.  

Flora studied Agriculture at Lincoln and completed her tertiary education with an additional year to receive the Diploma of Teaching and Education.  She is now a high school teacher in the Agriculture and Science department and has her own Agri business. Flora shares her journey and also gives some awesome advice about the power of rejection.

Grace moved from Australia to NZ for her tertiary education and lived with her grandparents in Waikanae while commuting daily to the Massey University campus.  Grace managed to juggle working jobs while studying and managed her study without a student loan.  She is working for FMG now and one day has hopes of working in Rural Banking.  Listen to her story to hear more.

Harriet had a dream to become a speech and language therapist to help stroke patients learn to speak again, she ventured off to Canterbury University to begin the journey that morphed into a change of direction to Lincoln University to test out her skill in the Ag field which changed again at the end of second year and saw her head back to Canterbury.  At the end of four years of study Harriet was a qualified primary school teacher and on the day of the Christchurch earthquake she was on her first teaching placement at Woodend school in a classrom with 5 year olds.  No longer teaching and now leading a very different kind of life, Harriet says she wouldn't change anything about her tertiary experience.  Hear her story of change and opportunity.

Katie opted to live at home in Auckland while studying at AUT, this enabled her to complete her degree with no student loan.  She completed her double degree in four years.  Katie has future plans to use her two diverse degrees together and is passionate about both economics and health and wellbeing.  Katie says that the key to choosing a tertiary career is to ensure that you are passionate about the subjects you are studying.

Lorissa began her Tertiary study at Otago studying Health Science, with a range of sciences.  Half way through first year she decided that she was interested in anatomy and cells so she went off to get help about how she could plan her degree.  Her undergrad degree took her four years.  She spent her first year at Salmond Halls of residence and then flatted for the rest of her study.  At the end of her degree she felt the push for post grade.  Hear how she is using her degree now and what her journey was like at Otago University in the world of science.

Lucretia is currently the manager of Farmlands Culverden, a job that is in line with the tertiary study she undertook at Lincoln University.  Lucretia chose Lincoln for it's small rural feeling and also due to a strong connection with her family.  She has made great friends and says that they will stick by each other throughout their careers.  This is an advantage from her first year in the Halls of Residence and staying at the same University for her entire degree.  Listen to her journey and the challenges she is still facing with her qualification.

In Year 13 Lucy was happy with her decision to travel from her hometown of Darfield to Wellington to study Architecture, her school had planned a visit to Lincoln University which she didn’t want to attend because she already had her plan; but her mother insisted that she go.  It was during this visit that she heard a lecturer speak about Architectural Design and with that plus the overwhelming feeling she got that this campus felt so perfect for her, Lucy changed her mind.  Since graduating she has worked for a local council, a landscape firm and has opened her own private landscaping business called LuLu Design.

Maddy Hirst left her High School education at Raphael house Rudolf Steiner to begin her Tertiary study having never sat an exam in her life.  The motivation for her study came from an employer at a winery restaurant who told her that she had reached the top of her pay scale and there wasn't really anywhere else for her to go.  This statement spurred Maddy on to complete a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration in International Business and Management  that would eventually see her working at the Ministry of Social Development in Wellington while juggling being a mum of twins.  We love her advice to her Year13 self at the end of her podcast."  

Marina began her tertiary career at Otago University with a dream to be a Doctor.  Her plans had to change when she realised that she wasn't going to make the cut so she left Otago for Canterbury University with a new dream to study psychology and become a Clinical Psychologist.  Hear her story about how she landed in her eventual career as a speaker, facilitator and coach.

On the advice of a University Careers Advisor Michaela headed to Otago University to study Law, she was steered away from what she really wanted to study after being told that there were unlikely to be jobs at the end of it. In her penultimate year, Michaela transferred from Otago to complete her final year of study at Victoria, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Media Studies. Michaela has worked all the way through her degree including an interesting stint helping out on a political campaign for the 2017 election. At the end of her degree she was offered a place on two graduate programmes and decided to take her offer from EY (Ernst and Young) in their advisory practice where she still currently works. During her 14 months at EY she has been fortunate to have gone on a 6 month international secondment to their Melbourne office to work with their Customer and Insights team from which she has recently returned from.   

Nicole knew she wanted to be a Paramedic from Year 10, she visited AUT while in High School and found out what was required.  For 3 years she studied in Auckland and volunteered on the Coromandel with St Johns to aid in her practical skills and increase her chances of gaining employment.  At the end of her final year she secured a job in Christchurch with St Johns and has continued her education with a post graduate certificate in critical care Paramedicine. Nicole has some great advice for Year13 girls working out what they want to do with their lives.

Sacha started her degree in Commerce and ended in Fine Arts, her first job took her back to farming, something she was familiar with from growing up on a sheep and cattle farm.
Sacha says you can never be over dressed or over educated. She said she knows how it feels in Year 13 to have the pressure on you to make a decision about your life but not know
what you want to do. She wants girls to know that not everyone’s success looks the same.

Sarah studied Primary Teaching through Teachers College and Canterbury University.  She started her first job at Waiau Primary School and taught on and off for 8 years.  After her second daughter was born Sarah decided to do the thing that brought her the most joy in her life and open a beautician’s business.  Although this had been an interest for her in high school, she had decided to get a qualification so that she could have multiple opportunities in her life.  Sarah says her teaching qualifications are used at home with her own children and are a great back up for her and give her choices for the rest of her life.

In Year 13 Sarah didn’t get great advice, she headed off to University as the first in her family to venture this pathway.  Sarah describes her first year as being a real challenge both socially and academically.  The Law degree she thought she was going to complete was changed in second year and she headed in a very different direction.  Amazingly Sarah worked full time in her final year for Trade Me, juggling a full time Marketing job and studying; she also headed one of the University Clubs and had the opportunity to travel to America during her career.  Sarah packed more than most into her degree, and is now employed by Ernst and Young as a Management Consultant.

Stacey graduated at CPIT (now ARA) November 2013. Four months later she landed her first job at Richmond Service, now called Emerge Aotearoa. 6 years on Stacey is now a Service Manager at Emerge Aotearoa, one of the youngest people to be a service manager there. Emerge Aotearoa provides a wide range of community-based mental health, addiction, disability support, offender rehabilitation, wellbeing and housing services nationwide.

Vanessa left the safety of her family home in Waihi for the big smoke of Auckland University to study a teaching degree.  She opted to flat for a more home-like environment and enjoyed the small sized classes of the Epsom based campus.  Now working in Hamilton she is focused on paying off her student loan and gaining the experience she needs to fulfil her next dream, to own her own early childhood centre.  Vanessa describes the place she is at now,  as living her dream.  She has advice for Year13 girls.