It was a day of pride, passion and utter relief for students who graduated from Tauranga's Bethlehem Tertiary Institute (BTI) on Saturday.
The graduation ceremony was the largest ever for BTI with about 125 students graduating from teacher education and counsellor education programmes.
Among them was Lindie-Joy Greyling, who celebrated completing a three-year Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Primary degree with family who travelled down from Paihia for the event.
The 20-year-old said she loved the graduation ceremony and looked forward to putting what she had learnt into practice.
Having been home-schooled as a child, Miss Greyling's first inspiration to be part of the education sector came when she was involved in choreography workshops for children at a primary school near her home.
"I used to do dance choreography and stuff and I would see how dance brought out so much in them, more than other subjects.
"So I really wanted to try and become a teacher and see how I can fulfil their lives with things I'm good at, that I know will get the best out of them," Miss Greyling said.
"Dance, art and drama, I'm just loving it and I know kids just love it. It's so cool watching them get it."
Miss Greyling moved to Tauranga from Paihia for the course and now considers Tauranga home.
She said she would ideally like to work in the Bay but planned to start applying for jobs closer to July.
For now she is looking forward to having a bit of a break from teaching.
"I'm doing caregiving part-time so a little break from teaching will be good," she said.
About 700 people were invited to the event, including Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby.