At high school, Hastings arborist Justin Jacobs wasn’t bothered about turning up for classes and he was asked to leave in his sixth form year.

“I went off the rails as a teenager and got myself into all sorts of trouble,” the 39-year-old says. “There was probably a point where I didn’t think I’d achieve at all.”

Despite the self-doubt, Justin is a stellar achiever.

Launching into a “journey of reclamation”, he enrolled at EIT in 2000 and has worked his way up through Te Manga Māori study programmes. On March 25, he will receive his Bachelor of Arts (Māori) at the institute’s graduation ceremony at Napier’s Municipal Theatre.

This year Justin is back at EIT doing his honours degree and he’s now thinking about going on to a master’s degree or possibly qualifying to teach.

“What I would really like to do is to get involved in importing Māori language into mainstream schools,” he says. “I feel there should be a module encompassing Māori culture – instruments, games, native birds and so on – integrated into the syllabus. I would love to be involved in piloting such a programme.”

It was becoming a parent that prompted Justin to think about his own identity.

“I asked what parts of me don’t I know very well. I’m definitely Māori, but I hadn’t accepted it as part of me. I didn’t grow up with any Māoritanga really, and the language wasn’t spoken to me as a child.

“My learning te reo became a journey of reclamation. Language is the anchor that keeps us floating on the sea. Without it we drift with the currents and the tides of the time.”

With a family to support, study has been a stop-start journey – Justin returned to full-time work in 2003 after completing two years of his bachelor’s degree.

“I was leaving the last year to complete at another time, but in the intervening time I wondered if I was going to get back to finish.”

Brainstorming the problem, Justin and his wife Natasha came up with a plan – she’d continue full-time teaching at Irongate School in Flaxmere while he’d study, work part-time and be the “mum at home” to the couple’s four children, now aged two to 13.

“I came back here last year needing seven papers to finish, and I was a bit apprehensive. It was quite hard getting back into study habits, but I realised I could achieve at that level. I got A+s for all my papers and really enjoyed it.

“EIT opened my eyes and broadened my horizons and it’s given me a big eagerness to learn and achieve. Last year was also about giving back to Te Manga Māori what they had started with the language they gave to me.

“My wife was also keen to see me complete my journey. She has seen the changes in me and knows it’s all for the best. The biggest thing is that our children see me pushing myself and achieving. They know I’m a hard worker.”