"I started it so I was going to see it to the end. There was no way I was going to give up because if I quit or deferred I probably wouldn't have come back."
Teaching graduates parade through Whangarei. Photo/John Stone
The pair started their studies at the University of Auckland's Te Tai Tokerau campus in 2015 and their dedication paid off as two of 47 who graduated from the University of Auckland's Te Tai Tokerau campus yesterday.
Ms Thompson's baby girl Ameleawas born in March 2016 and Ms Flay-Alker's baby girl Hanawas born January 2016.
The pair said having the support of their lecturers and classmates - who have become their girls' aunties and uncles - helped a lot.
"Hana was welcome in every lecture and I never once felt uncomfortable or awkward that she was there," Ms Flay-Alker said.
Ms Thompson felt the same.
"The lecturers were amazing, walking babies as they delivered lectures, getting spew on their shoulders while burping our babies as we completed assessments. My fellow student whanau who supported me through everything I went through, and loving my daughter like their own," she said.
Ms Flay-Alker was a police officer in Auckland for 10 years and would commute from Whangarei to Otahuhu until she decided family came first.
She decided to become a teacher after working as a teacher aide at her son's school, Morningside School, where she now has a job teaching new entrants.
"I got to see teaching and learning with a whole new perspective. I found myself thinking that if school was like this when I was at school then maybe school wouldn't have been the unmotivating and disengaging place I remember it being."
Meanwhile Ms Thompson, who is teaching at Otaika Valley School, said her two boys inspired her.
"I needed to make sure my children knew where they were going in their education. I needed to know what their options were and what opportunities they would have, so I could guide them through those," she said.
The pair said they were both loving their new jobs as teachers.
