The icing on the cake for Blanche

Graduating with a Bachelor's degree in nursing was enough of an achievement to make Blanche Frost happy, but winning the 2013 New Zealand Nurses' Organisation Whakawatea Taonga was the icing on the cake.

The award is granted annually to NorthTec nursing students who demonstrate significant support for fellow students' needs, a commitment to nursing as a profession and exhibit leadership qualities. Blanche shared the 2013 prize with Beatrice Harrap, who studied at the NorthTec campus in Whangarei.

"They were awarded this excellence taonga as they both displayed the qualifying criteria, and often worked together to achieve what they did during their time as student delegates," NZNO regional administrator Deb Massey said.

"Their commitment was equal, and they were both deserving recipients of this award."

The selection committee agreed that 27-year-old Blanche (Te Rarawa) had shown tremendous commitment to the NZNO, Te Runanga o Aotearoa and the NZNO National Student Unit..

"She showed great leadership skills, and was a key advocate in her role as a NZNO student delegate at NorthTec," Deb said.

"Blanche actively promoted NZNO to her fellow nursing students, and encouraged them to use it as part of their support network while studying."

She had also been instrumental in establishing the scheme at the Kaitaia campus.

"I tried to help other students in Kaitaia, as we don't have tutors up here. It was extra work for me, but helping people up here seemed the right thing to do," she said.

And she was proud to receive the award.

"It was nice to get it. It's an acknowledgement of what we achieved," she added.

"It's just what we do up here. We help. You just do it."

Blanche, who lives at Ahipara, said she had chosen to study and become a nurse for her seven-year-old son Ngakau.

"I wanted a future for my son, and also a profession that enabled me to travel," she said, but it hadn't all been plain sailing.

"It was hard at times, and I did have moments where I felt like giving up," she said.

She thanked her parents, and NorthTec student advisor Helen Cossey, who had helped "heaps," looking after her son and advising her on course requirements. And she encouraged anybody who was considering a career in nursing to give it a go.

"It's worth it. The three years of study does end, there is a light at the end of the tunnel," she said, "but give the foundation studies a go first. That will let you really see if nursing is for you, before they take on the degree."

Blanche graduated in March, and is now working as a registered nurse at Kaitaia Hospital, and loving it.

"The staff at the hospital are so supportive. And the pay cheque is awesome too," she said, while the mentoring skills she acquired during her studies were coming into use again as the latest group of student nurses made their way through the hospital wards.

"We have student nurses come in for us to help mentor them. It's nice to be able to give back again," she concluded.