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EIT Student an International Medal Winner

April 5, 2011

Still studying for her tourism and travel diploma, Lisa Wojcik hadn’t dreamt she’d have a starring role at EIT’s recent graduation ceremony.

The 29-year-old – better known as Lisa Berry before marrying her Polish husband Kristof Wojcik – was invited onto the stage at Napier’s packed Municipal Theatre where EIT chief executive Chris Collins presented her with the prestigious City and Guilds International Award for Excellence.

Lisa also received an EIT Chief Executive’s Award recognising her outstanding achievement in the Certificate in Tourism & Travel study programme.

“The City and Guilds award,” Mr Collins told an audience of newly-capped graduates, families, friends and EIT staff, “acknowledges Lisa as the leading vocational educator’s top student in her field – in the world.”

New Zealand’s newly-appointed representative for City and Guilds Glenn Fulcher said Lisa’s success was “a massive achievement”. The London-based institute awards the medal to the top student in each of the leading education organisation’s qualifications internationally.

Lisa’s award was for the Certificate in Reception Operations & Services, which she did as part of her first EIT qualification, the Certificate in Tourism and Travel.

“Students aiming for the certificate can choose from a mix and match option, so Lisa will be able to work in any area of the industry including hospitality,” says programme coordinator Sue McCarthy. “It’s a great stepping out point from here.”

Formerly an IT technician, Lisa decided to move into a career in tourism and travel after a trip to Poland in 2005 to get to know the “heaps of Poles” she met through online gaming on the Internet. One of these was Kristof, who proposed and then immigrated to New Zealand to join her.

“We had a baby three years ago,” Lisa says, “so I chose correspondence study as a stepping stone to getting back into the work force and then started EIT’s certificate programme in February last year. I enjoyed the international travel qualification so much I didn’t want to stop there.

“So I then stepped up to the diploma programme. I thought I was up for another challenge.”

With son Stefan now nearly three, Lisa is looking for a start in a family-friendly career, perhaps in hotel management. Ultimately she’d enjoyed promoting New Zealand as a tourist destination or marketing overseas destinations to kiwi travellers.

Lisa expects her City and Guilds success will enhance her job prospects when she completes the diploma programme mid-year. The plan is for her to be the family wage earner while Kristof, who has a master’s degree in telecommunications and electronics, studies computing programming at EIT next year.

Originally from Gisborne, Lisa moved to Napier as an 11-year-old and she attended William Colenso College.

Sue McCarthy describes her as “a very, very capable student, working steadily through the EIT study programme and getting good marks in everything she’s done.

“She works hard and sets out to achieve, and it doesn’t appear difficult for her to do that. When she finishes her own work, she’ll always go and help someone else.”

Lisa says that after sitting the City and Guilds exam in June last year, she was quite surprised to get the award. She expects the reality will sink in once she receives her medal, which is being sent all the way from Singapore.

“I expected a lot of students in my class to do really well in City and Guilds, and most of those in my part of the programme did achieve distinction. The great thing is that the qualification is internationally recognised, so that will help me get work if the family does go overseas. ”