A Tauranga woman has received a prestigious award for her commitment to study.
Melanie Tregurtha, who is studying for a Bachelor of Social Work, was honoured with the Vice-Chancellor's Adult Learners Award from the University of Waikato.
As a former landscape gardener and dance instructor, Ms Tregurtha decided to upskill and become a registered social worker. As an adult learner with the University in Tauranga, the mother of four fitted in her studies around shift work at the Hotel on Devonport and was motivated by her desire do something positive to address child abuse.
Within two days of starting her first fieldwork placement in 2014, her youngest son Finn became critically ill with encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and was flown to Starship Hospital in Auckland, forcing her to withdraw from study and care for her son. "I left to take him to the doctor and didn't come home for weeks. Everything else had to stop to focus on Finn and his recovery. He had to learn how to do most of the basics again, from breathing, swallowing, sitting, walking, talking, emotional control and motor control."
Between Starship and then rehabilitation, Ms Tregurtha and Finn were in Auckland for almost four months.