Fellow student Scott Lavery styles Ashlee Lewis’s hair under tutor Jennifer Todd’s supervision.

Interested in fashion and beauty, Ashlee Lewis wanted to pursue a related career.

Attending EIT Tairāwhiti’s Trades Academy as a student at Gisborne’s Campion College, Ashlee’s focus was on learning about hairdressing.

Encouraged by her tutor, she achieved extra credits during her two years with the trades academy. That reduced her workload when she took up a Māori and Pasifika Trades Training (MPTT) scholarship to study for the Level 3 Certificate in Hairdressing at EIT in Hawke’s Bay.

The MPTT scheme provides support and incentives to assist Māori and Pasifika students aged 16 to 40 to gain meaningful trades qualifications and apprenticeships. Ashlee’s Ngāti Porou ancestry qualified her for the scholarship, which covered her study fees for the one-year programme.

Living across the road from the Hawke’s Bay campus in EIT’s student village was awesome, she says, and she met a lot of students that way. She progressed easily through the certificate programme, completing it ahead of her classmates.

Ashlee has secured a 90-day employment contract at a Gisborne salon and she’s hoping that will lead to an apprenticeship.

“An apprenticeship straight away is what I want,” the 18-year-old says. “I’ve done work experience and that definitely helps.”

She’s grateful to her tutors and EIT support staff for helping her over the past year. In turn, they say Ashlee’s move from Gisborne to Hawke’s Bay to gain her certificate showed real dedication, commitment and homage to her iwi.