For Keri-Marie Tamarra Teiri, graduating means everything.
Since she watched her mother battle cancer 14 years ago, Keri-Marie has dreamed of being a nurse.
"Just seeing how human the nurses were with my mum wasmy inspiration.
"They were the superheroes who saved my superhero."
At the Toi Ohomai graduation ceremony yesterday, Keri-Marie joined more than a thousand students at the Rotorua Events Centre who saw their dreams become reality.
"It took me four and a half years to get here," the 23-year-old nursing graduate said.
"It's surreal."
After a year of Covid-19 lockdowns, and suffering losses in her family, Keri-Marie said the ceremony brought her to tears.