EIT student Kate van Ingen and her mother Lisa Hargreaves, an EIT graduate, are happy that they didn’t have to move out of Hawke’s Bay to study.
Having enjoyed her break, Kate van Ingen is more than ready to start her second year at EIT. The 19-year-old is completing a Bachelor of Business Studies and is one of the lucky Year 13 Scholarship recipients. Being entitled to the Government Fee Free programme on top of the scholarship, she will be able to finish her studies with a manageable student loan.
Having looked at universities Kate decided to stay in Hawke’s Bay and start her tertiary education journey at EIT. “The student hostels were really expensive and I wasn’t that keen on living away from home anyway. That’s why I had a look at what EIT was offering,” recalls Kate.
It wasn’t all a coincidence that Kate chose EIT over other tertiary institutions. Her brother Adam had already gained an EIT degree in Visual Arts and Design. Her Mother, Lisa Hargreaves, could be even described as one of the campus regulars. Lisa was in her late twenties when she decided to take up tertiary studies at EIT.
“I completed a Bachelor of Business studies degree in Accounting. I loved being a student and I was so dedicated because I knew where I wanted to go,” says Lisa. She added a graduate teaching diploma and completed some maths papers by correspondence. Having aced all final exams Lisa has been teaching maths in Havelock North for the past nine and half years. “I was 33 when I finished my degree and I would study anytime again.”
Her daughter Kate, however, has still some years of studying ahead of her. But engaging with lecturers and fellow students of different age groups opened her eyes. “They are teaching us to be critical and broadening our ideas. We get a taste of a lot of subjects such as law and project management and we are able to apply our knowledge into the real world.
“When I go to a place I often think what I would do differently if I was the manager. And that’s exactly what our lecturer Nick Cordery told us in the beginning. That we would start seeing the world differently.”
Kate aspires to become an event or theatre manager. She has been a volunteer at Theatre Hawke’s Bay in Hastings since she was 13. Working at the costume hire and as a wardrobe mistress whetted her appetite for entering the theatre industry.
Kate is a talented photographer, a binge-reader and a keen tap dancer. A passion that she shares with her mother Lisa. Kate is convinced that being able to study in Hawke’s Bay gives her the opportunity to keep connected with the theatre and all the things she loves.