The Rotary Club of Taradale recently presented awards of excellence to EIT degree students Anita Santos and Jemma Russell.

Both women receive $1000 towards their EIT fees.

Living with a Taradale family, Anita moved from Sao Paulo in Brazil to study ideaschool’s Bachelor of Creative Practice and is now in her second year at EIT.  From Napier, Jemma is a third-year Bachelor of Social Work student.

Anita was seeking a different learning style, one that was more hands-on than visual arts and design study programmes offered in Brazil.  She chose EIT because it aligned with her needs, and she also “really liked” its facilities.  

 Her lecturers, describing Anita as a high-achieving creative artist, say that while Portuguese is her mother tongue, her very good grasp of English allows her to converse critically with them and classmates.

Specialising in illustration and graphic design, the 20-year-old is also exploring fashion design, making the most of the opportunities to study other creative media offered by ideaschool.

“I hope to find a job anywhere in the world,” she says.  “I see myself most likely working as a designer or tattooist.”

Living in Napier, Jemma says social work appealed to her because she enjoys interacting and working with people to enable positive outcomes.

Also 20, she has been selected to do her first field-work placement at Hawke’s Bay Restorative Justice.

“Social work is broad is applicable and adaptable to various fields of work and one of my long-term goals is to join the police and use my degree within this field.”

Jemma believes the knowledge and experienced gained throughout her degree studies would stand her in good stead as a police officer.

Passionate about te reo Māori, which she started learning at school, Jemma hopes to improve her language skills by studying Te Tira hou – Introduction to te reo Māori as a second-semester elective programme at EIT’s Te Ūranga Waka.  

In 1989, Brian Nelson, a past president of the Rotary Club of Taradale, suggested establishing an annual scholarship to encourage local tertiary students to continue their studies.  The club decided to institute two awards of excellence which it presents annually to EIT students.