Editorial: Rewarded for years of study

Roger Moroney.

A couple of years back I wrote a profile piece on a local printing business and as part of the tour of the place I got the chance to meet some of the staff.

One, a young lady, had been taken on in a design role - business cards, invitations, pamphlets - whatever the client was after she was assigned to come up with a design which would get the message across smartly and colourfully.

I asked where she learned her creative trade and she told me she had done an art and design course at the Eastern Institute of Technology at Taradale.

Her resulting qualifications after graduating impressed the boss at the company and he decided to take her on.

He was delighted with the work she was producing.

The EIT has come of age big time.

I remember the early years when you could count the number of buildings out there on one hand.

I think a couple were pre-fabs - towed to the site.

Today it is an expansive and professional part of the country's educational resource and continues to produce a string of people who have embraced and adopted new skills, or expanded their existing skills.

Reading the profiles of just some of the hundreds who have graduated over the past couple of days has been inspiring.

People like Shiran Atira from Israel and now living in the Bay who attained a Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood), and Annatjie Pretorius who graduated with a Master of Nursing Degree.

People like Philip Shambrook, who had completed a Bachelor of Recreation and Sport and is now enrolled in EIT's ground-breaking Master of Health Science programme.

This online programme has attracted international interest and is absolutely cutting edge.

The spread of education is remarkable.

Sciences, health, sport, nursing, art and design, computing, hospitality, business, viticulture, marketing, teaching, engineering ... and with initiatives like the online health science programme, the range is expanding.

It was genuinely buoying to see the graduands assembled outside the Municipal Theatre on Thursday and yesterday in their coloured hoods and caps.

They had worked, they have learned and they had achieved.

It's a crucial component of life, this thing called education, and Hawke's Bay can be proud to possess an institute which embraces it so passionately and professionally.

To those who picked up their diplomas and degrees - good on you all.