Mum of four's tips to succeed

TOP SCHOLAR: Prize-winning Wairarapa UCOL nursing graduate Johanna Brazendale and her children Tyla, 17, Kadin, 14, Renee, 12, and Grayson Hart, 9, at the gates of the Masterton campus.

Mum-of-four Johanna Brazendale - a prize-winning Wairarapa UCOL nursing graduate - is settling in to a new rhythm of life beyond the classroom.

On Tuesday Ms Brazendale gathered alongside 17 fellow Bachelor of Nursing graduates and more than 150 other Wairarapa UCOL graduates at the Masterton Town Hall for the 2014 graduation ceremony and annual cap and gown march back to the Masterton campus in Chapel St.

She was presented at the ceremony with the Lippincott Williams & Wilkins nursing prize for excellence in all areas of the curriculum throughout the three years of study, and was proudly accompanied on the graduation procession by her children Tyla, 17, Kadin, 14, Renee, 12, and Grayson, 9.

Ms Brazendale, 34, said she had initially started at Wairarapa UCOL in 2010 on a Health Science Certificate course and had that year watched Year 3 nursing students graduate in anticipation of the years she was planning to devote to the same course of study.

"I didn't really know what to expect. I did health science just to get back into studies - essay writing, maths, basic classroom skills. I left Kuranui College in 1996 to have Tyla and had finished that year taking lessons by correspondence.

"Health science got me back in to the swing of learning and because Tyla was born with cerebral palsy and was pretty sick for the first eight weeks of her life, that's what got me in to nursing really, because I was interested in her treatment and medication, her care."

Ms Brazendale first enrolled at Wairarapa UCOL later in the same year her youngest son Grayson had started school, she said, which had allowed her to return to the classroom.

Throughout her studies she also was working as a fulltime mum of four and caregiver for Tyla, as well as book-keeping for her partner Justin Hart, who works as an owner-operator truck driver.

She started in January as a part-time nurse at an aged care facility in Wairarapa and was already looking at options for further study in the nursing field, she said.

Her parents Winston and Elaine Brazendale, her partner, and Tyla's teacher aide Caroline Finlay had each provided "huge support" throughout her studies, she said.

Also vital to her academic success was Wairarapa UCOL offering the degree studies in Masterton and arranging work placements in the region, she said.

And her advice to others looking to return to studies:

"Maintain a good work-play balance, read the questions - it's all about knowing what they want, take time out to relax, and enjoy your family. Take time with your family. Because their support and happiness is essential to everything, anything, you do."