Celebrating their achievements

Sara Hallgarth Picture supplied

For many years a lack of confidence stopped Sara Hallgarth from following her dream to be a teacher, but yesterday she graduated with a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) from the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT | Te Pūkenga.

Born and bred in Gisborne, Sara, 39, is a mother of two young girls who has studied a range of subjects from driving training to te reo in the past. But it was always teaching where her heart lay.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, but never really had the confidence. So yeah, as soon as the kids got older and things were getting easier for us, I knew that it was time.

“It was tough juggling because my husband, William, and I own a business, Peak Construction Gisborne, so it was hard to juggle life and things, but I feel like the lecturers there were so supportive, and they only ever wanted us to succeed. So having their support all the time was great.”

The highlight of the degree for Sara was the practical component which sees students spend two days per week getting practical training at local schools.

“It was fantastic. I was with experienced teachers throughout my training,  so every teacher that I had as a mentor teacher had 20 plus years of experience so I was really lucky.”

The three years of study have not been without their challenges with Sara referring to her and her classmates as “the COVID graduates”.

Sara, who finished her degree in November last year, is now teaching at Mangapapa School, where she did her last practicum and where she also went to school.

“I have come full circle and my girls also attended Mangapapa. I have great connections here. My nieces and nephews and family have gone through the school, so I just felt really connected. ”

She says that the degree at EIT | Te Pūkenga prepared her for the rigours of being a teacher of young primary school students.

“I think EIT really prepared us for that shock of reality, because the paperwork side does correlate to what we’re doing now. We have our expectations and EIT had their expectations and they are similar to being a teacher, even though we moaned about it a lot, that we had so much to do. But that’s the reality of being a teacher.”

Sara says she is keen to study further but is now focused on getting her registration as a teacher.

Before that she has the not-so- small matter of graduation, an event her family, including her daughters, Emily, 13 and Rosie, 11, will be attending.

Emma McFadyen, a lecturer in Primary Education at EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti, says: “Sara is one teacher from a cohort of twelve who will be graduating this year. It will be a moment of sheer joy for the teaching team and partnership schools as we watch this cohort cross the stage at graduation. Each individual has their own story, involving highs and lows, to get to this point in their journey, and they should be incredibly proud of their achievements.”

EIT is now part of Te Pūkenga. Te Pūkenga will bring together New Zealand’s Institutes of Technology, Polytechnics, and Industry Training Organisations to build a network of on-job, on- campus and online learning.

Izaya (Izzy) Jahnke graduated with a Bachelor of Computing Systems from the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT | Te Pūkenga.

It has been a long journey for Izzy, who went to Gisborne Boys’ High School. Upon leaving school he received numerous scholarships to study engineering in Auckland. He spent a year and a half there, but returned to Gisborne after finding the going too tough.

Izzy says looking back the leap from school to university in Auckland had been too big.

“I guess I just had no experience at all. I felt like we jumped straight into the deep end at uni  — very high level coding and software development — and I knew nothing at all. So I kind of needed to come to EIT where they could have more one-on-ones and teach the fundamentals, the basics. I decided to pick up where I left at from uni and finished at EIT.”

Enrolling in EIT | Te Pūkenga in 2019 is a move he does not regret as he now prepares to graduate, which he describes as “quite an honour”.

“It feels like a dream has come true.”

Izzy’s father is German-Samoan and his mother is Māori (Ngati Porou), which makes his achievement more special for him.

“I guess I just wanted to show that as a Māori/Islander, you can get a high qualification such as a degree, even if you are living in tough situations with financial issues. There’s always ways to increase and improve your growth.”

He says that what he enjoyed about the EIT | Te Pūkenga degree was the friends and colleagues he made.

“It helped me seeing everyone going through the same struggles and seeing them overcome them as well.”

Izzy says he found the three years fun and the lecturers and tutors supportive.

He finished his degree early last year, but has had to wait to graduate because COVID-19 delayed the ceremony.

While he was studying he had worked part-time in an orchard and has moved to full-time while he waits to graduate.

The plan is to now begin looking for an IT job.

“I really love cybersecurity. However, at this time I’ve been doing my own hobby, which is fixing things and laptops, replacing screens and all. So I guess I will look at something along those lines, repairing hardware.”

As for studying further, it is something he is keen to do.

“It’s in my mind to either further the degree and do a Master’s or return to engineering eventually. And then to specialise in either computing engineering or software engineering.”

EIT | Te Pūkenga senior IT lecturer Tina Blumenthal says: “It was our pleasure to have Izzy in the BCS programme. Not only did he achieve well throughout his study journey, but he also brought a positive, inquiring energy into our learning spaces, engaging others, and often coming up with innovative solutions to problems.

“Izzy’s positive attitude coupled with his professional smarts were evident at the outset.  He received the Spirit of GovHack Award, when a group of Tairāwhiti BCS students travelled to Hawke’s Bay to participate in the annual event. We wish Izzy all the best for the future.