She might not have finished high school but EIT social work student Bella Mill is well on her way to a degree in social work, driven by an ambition to make a difference for children.

Bella dropped out of school after losing both of her parents when she was 13.  After a year off she found it hard to go back.

Instead, she enrolled at the Elite International School of Beauty in Auckland and at 16, became the youngest beauty therapist in the country.

She started studying towards a business degree at AUT in Auckland but found it wasn’t her thing. She missed the interaction with people that she enjoyed as a beauty therapist.

“It’s really about caring for people,” she said. She was also inspired by her papa, who had been a police youth aid officer. When he died, many of the people he helped arrived to pay their respects.

At 18, she moved to Gisborne, to be near her sister and grandparents, but mostly because her sister was pregnant and Bella wanted to be there for the baby.

She enrolled in a bridging course at EIT, providing her with a certificate in social services that would be her first step towards  degree study.

Bella is now in her third year of the four-year Bachelor degree programme.

She is pushing hard to qualify for entry to the Honours programme, which means she needs to achieve more than 75 percent in all their courses.

She and her partner have two children, aged five and three, and she admits it is hard work keeping abreast of the workload. But with the support of her partner and her lecturers at EIT, she is on track to qualify for entry into the Honours programme for her fourth year.

“EIT is just amazing,” she says.

“You can get one-on-one tutoring here and they don’t let you get behind. If you are having personal problems they are always ready to help.”

While studying, Bella continued to work part-time as a beauty therapist until this year when she started her first work-based training placement at Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children.

She is grateful for the supervision she receives from her lecturer at EIT and her mentor at Oranga Tamariki.

“It’s frontline social work – it’s challenging and a bit sad but it’s really helping children. Social workers really help families.”

Next year her placement will be with a community organisation but at this stage, she is thinking that in the longer term, she would like to do the frontline child protection work.

“I want to make a difference.  Eventually, I would like to take part in legislative change and social change.  That’s where you can really make a difference and that is my goal.”