There are few men in the field of early childhood education and Regan Reti is one of them - yet only four years ago the Whangarei man thought he'd be driving trucks forever.
Now the 33-year-old has been awarded one of the Ministry of Education's prestigious Kupe Scholarships to celebrate the top 30 Maori and Pasifika student teachers around the country. And with men making up less than two per cent of teaching staff at teacher-led early childhood education (ECE) centres in Northland, he hoped he could motivate more to join the field.
But Mr Reti said he "accidently" fell into his role as a student teacher at Raumanga's Christopher and Robin Early Childhood Centre, as only four years ago he was driving a truck delivering milk.
"My daughter used to go [to the centre] and I'd stay for a little while when I'd go to pick her up. Then, while I was still working as a truck driver, I would cover the lunch breaks for the teachers and then they offered me a fulltime job and I was really surprised."
He's been working there for three-and-a-half years and is in his second year of studying a Bachelor of Teaching through Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand.