Tina Darkins and her sons Harry (left) and Rory, pictured at the Town Basin, have achieved academic and professional success.
Tina Darkins and her sons Harry (left) and Rory, pictured at the Town Basin, have achieved academic and professional success.
NZME has launched On The Up – a national campaign showcasing amazing stories of inspiration, success, courage and possibilities. Northern Advocate journalist Jenny Ling speaks to a Northland family who have strived to succeed.
An inspiring Northland family who went through the local school system have gone on to achieve lasting academic and professional success.
Mum Tina Darkins and her sons, Rory and Harry Darkins, who are formerly of Whakapara, all attended Hikurangi School at various times.
Tina went on to Kamo High School and the boys later attended Whangārei Boys’ High School.
While Tina and Rory have also completed PhDs in their respective nursing and psychology fields, Harry gained a Bachelor of Education and Psychology at the University of Waikato and is now a teacher in Auckland.
Tina said she was “very proud”.
“All Northlanders going through the local school system can do well if they have drive, willingness and perseverance,” she said.
“You’ve got to have drive, you’ve got to be inspired to keep going.”
After her schooling, Tina did a degree in nursing and then trained at Whangārei Hospital.
At the age of 21, she travelled to England where she lived for 12 years, working mainly at Wembley Stadium, running medical services for big concerts such as Live Aid, and sporting events like soccer and boxing matches.
Tina Darkins and her son, Rory Darkins, at his PhD presentation ceremony in Sydney.
“There were 400 casualties in a day easy, there was never a dull moment.”
Tina also did her master’s degree in the hospice setting and her PhD was completed in 2010 through AUT Auckland in the field of health and social services.
The Northland-based study looked at success factors for not-for-profit community organisations.
Tina credits her success to having a healthy self-belief.
“I just kept going,” she said.
“I thought ‘I can do that’.
“You’ve got to make a decision to do it and stick to it.
“It proves how worthwhile it is in the end; my PhD has been useful to people, it’s quite practical.”
Rory, 33, recently gained his PhD at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney, and Tina was there for his presentation ceremony held at Rosehill Gardens on April 2.
His PhD was in the field of positive psychology, exploring the relationship between objective and subjective measures of breathing and wellbeing.
Based in Sydney for over 10 years, he is a mental skills coach for athletes, including for the Sydney Marathon and St George District Cricket Club.
Rory is also a researcher and associate lecturer at the University of Wollongong where he teaches sports psychology.
“I grew up watching Mum doing her PhD on the sidelines of my cricket games at Kensington Park, when she was working fulltime as a nurse.
“She spent her time constructively chipping away at her research on the weekends and whenever she could.
“I saw what was possible if you persevere ... you can achieve what you want if you stick at it and back yourself.”
Harry, 36, was a teacher in Whangārei for 14 years – 11 years at Whangārei Boys’ High School and three at Whangārei Intermediate School – before moving to Auckland last year.
Apart from his teaching degree, Harry holds an honours qualification in growth culture leadership.
He is now working as a specialist classroom teacher at Ormiston Junior College in East Auckland, in charge of coaching and training first and second-year teachers and overseas-trained teachers.
Harry is working towards becoming a deputy principal or principal “in the near future”.
“It’s not always easy, there are always hiccups and learnings and growth on the way.
“But it’s building resilience and doing what you need to achieve your goals – and not letting anything get in the way.”
Tina, who is the manager of the Forget Me Not centre in Tikipunga, said her Phd outcomes included meeting the community need, overcoming funding insecurity, having a board, management and staff that work together for the good of the organisation, and never losing sight of the organisation’s mission and purpose.
These outcomes had been integrated into the day-to-day work at Forget Me Not, a daycare service for adults of all ages who had disabilities, were elderly and frail, and those with memory loss and head injuries, she said.
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human-interest stories, along with finance, roading and animal welfare issues.
