Advocating for the vulnerable is Samantha’s passion.
“I nearly fell over and I definitely shed some happy tears,” says Samantha Smith, about the moment when she found out that she was this year’s Margaret Hetley scholarship winner. “It took a couple of days to sink in,” the EIT Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) student says with a big smile.
The scholarship was named in memory of Mrs Margaret Hetley, who gifted the EIT campus to the Hawke’s Bay community. The scholarship supports women undertaking tertiary study and commemorates the centennial anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement.
Being a dynamic, mature and strong-minded women, the 30-year-old does the scholarship credit.
Samantha’s life hasn’t always been a straight road. She admits that she had struggled at school and started working in hospitality when she was 17. Being young and independent, she enjoyed working late hours, until eight years ago a tragic event turned her life around.
Samantha can pinpoint the horrible moment, when she was told that her brother took his life only two days after he had turned 20. Samantha says, that with his death she lost part of herself. “Rebuilding who I was became part of the grieving process. Today I use his legacy as motivation. I don’t want someone to die, feeling as alone as he felt.”
In 2014, when she enrolled at EIT in a social services certificate, she didn’t think she had the ability to gain more than a level 3 qualification. “I was torn between one part of me, saying that I was not smart enough and the other part, pushing me further.” It turned out that Samantha excelled and passed exam after exam. She had her moments of self-doubt but always pulled herself together.
“I have a huge passion in advocating for vulnerable people and children. This is why social work is part of who I am to the core,” she says. Samantha is a real people’s person. She is chatty, energetic and interested in everybody around her. For two and half years Samantha was employed by Oranga Tamariki – Ministry of Children as a family home reliever.
Due to night shifts she spent a lot of time away from her husband Whelan and her sons Graham, 11 and Max, 6 but still thoroughly enjoyed the experience. “I grew a lot as a professional and at the same time I was able to apply my academic knowledge into the role,” Samantha says.
Now, Samantha is back studying and she is willing to see it through. “I’m immensely grateful to be awarded the scholarship as it covers the extra tuition fees and funds the research that I have to undertake this year.”
“I’m so happy because I’m finally changing my life.”