Roy Nathan hasn't forgiven himself.
The 34-year-old served nine months of an 18-month prison sentence followed by 18 months probation after being convicted of drink-driving causing death.
But guilt still plagues him.
"I don't even forgive myself to be honest," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"It affected our family and myself dramatically. I'm a totally different person to what I was ... We're still trying to get through it. Every day it comes across your mind."
He had been in Mount Maunganui drinking with old navy friends when he made the fatal mistake to get behind the wheel.
"I could have walked for 30 minutes and hopped in a bed but I was too lazy. I chose to drive for 30 minutes and hop in my own bed," he told the students.
The next thing he remembers was sitting in his destroyed car before firefighters cut him out.
"I was told I'd killed a person in a vehicle.
"When I heard that I went into shock and my body started convulsing."
He recorded a blood alcohol level of 163mg - more than twice the legal adult limit.
Mr Nathan said it was the first time he had ever driven drunk but alcohol no longer held the same appeal.
Mr Nathan now works with recidivist youth offenders, has a 5-month-old child and is stepfather to his partner's two other children.