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Young Mother Benefits From Study

January 11, 2016

2015 11 24 Travel Tourism Hayley Paewhenua square(4)Studying the Diploma in Tourism and Travel helped Hayley Paewhenua overcome her shyness.

Of Ngāpuhi descent and originally from the Bay of Islands, Hayley moved to Hastings when she started high school. At the time, she didn’t see school as important and left after turning 16.

Working as a rousie in a shearing gang took her to farms in the North and South Islands. “That was quite character building,” she says of her wool handling experience.

Hayley has a passion for tourism and when she was younger she wanted to be a flight attendant – “it looked like a glamorous job, flying around the world”. Later, as the mother of two young sons with partner Hemi, she felt that was no longer an option.

“I thought I can’t do that, but there might be something else out there for me.”

That led her to EIT and to managing the challenges of studying, parenting and running a home while also working part-time for a catering company.

The mother of Iree (5) and Kalaie (3) also learnt how to express her views.

“EIT brings out people. I was quite shy and couldn’t say what I wanted to say. I got over that real quick.” In a class of students she says was smaller than
would be the norm at university, Hayley felt she was being listened to and that studying wasn’t a competition.

“There were a lot of different age groups in our class and I liked that too. Even out of the classroom, it was cool to talk to other people who have a passion for what they are studying. You learn from them as well. And it’s a good place to network.”

A month after gaining her diploma, Hayley was appointed Tour and Charter Administrator at Nimon & Sons Ltd, winner of the Supreme Hawke’s
Bay Tourism Award.

Based in the company’s head office at Whakatu, she’s loving a job which, she says, requires good phone, listening and note-taking skills.

The company, which also has depots in Napier and Taupō, operates a fleet of 120 buses nationwide. “You learn pretty quickly to write as little as
possible while recording as much information as you can.”

Having gained her diploma, Hayley is now convinced of the benefits of an education and would consider further tertiary study.