Anna Kelland was thrilled when she was told she would be one of two Valedictorians at the EIT | Te Pūkenga graduation ceremonies on Friday (18 August), and she can’t wait to carry on with her exciting new career.

Anna, 22, completed the final year of the concurrent Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine Science degrees last year, and is now working as a viticulture technician for Constellation Brands in Marlborough.

However, she is looking forward to returning to Hawke’s Bay to attend one of two graduation ceremonies at the Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre in Hastings on Friday.

“I was very happy to receive the email from my Head of School, Sue. I had wondered before the graduation was postponed in March, who the valedictorians were going to be. And then, of course, that was postponed. And then the month before, I was thinking, ‘Who’s it going to be?’ and it was not too long ago that I got the email from Sue. ‘Oh, it’s going to be me.’ Exciting.”

Anna has shown her talent from a young age, having left Taradale High School in Year 12 as Dux of the school and enrolled in the degree when she was still 17 years old. She was so young when she started the degree that she was not allowed to drink the wine in the wine-making course.

It did not hold her back as she received a number of awards for her excellent work. She received the Lawson Robinson Hawke’s Bay A&P Society Scholarship at the Napier Port Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards 2022. She had also received an EIT | Te Pūkenga Year 13 Scholarship for her first year and then a Bragato Trust Study Grant in her second year.

Anna says she is finding that what she was taught at EIT | Te Pūkenga is helping her in her new job.

“The combination of teaching us about the scientific approach to wine making, and viticulture, it did go really in depth. But there was also that practical side with industry partners, and people who were industry leaders becoming lecturers, teaching us about how things are really done. So we had those two different approaches to our thinking, going to the workforce. I definitely felt super prepared.”

Her attention is now turning to graduation and it is an opportunity for the family to come together and celebrate.

“Mum and dad will be there. My sister is over in Sydney, where she works for the Heart Research Institute. She was a graduate speaker at her ceremony when she graduated with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science from Victoria University of Wellington. So it makes two of us. Mum and dad are really proud of her too.”

“I’m hoping she’ll watch the stream of the ceremony since she’s overseas.”

Anna says she is very proud to be graduating.

“I’m a very academic person and I do take a lot of pride in my studies. It’s very important to me. I definitely put quite a good amount of focus on my studies.”

While she may have finished her degree, the studying continues for Anna. In 2021, she also enrolled in Wine and Spirits Education Trust London, to get her diploma. She is doing the programme through the New Zealand School of Wine and Spirits.

“I’m still studying, I’m not particularly free of it yet. I have my final exam in October.  I’ve been doing that in my spare time, alongside my full time studying at EIT| Te Pūkenga. And it continues now while I am working.”

Sue Blackmore, the Head of the School of Viticulture and Wine Science at EIT | Te Pūkenga, says: “Anna is a very worthy valedictorian; she has always been both strong academically and also focused on finding a rewarding career in the wine industry once she finished.”

“She is part of a very strong cohort of students and I want to congratulate all of our graduates.”